Sales of Pixel models at major U.S. carriers rise one month after 5G Pixel 6 series is released

Before the release of the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro in late October, carrier-based Pixel sales in the U.S. made up only 1%-2% of overall handset revenue generated by the top U.S. wireless providers. You know their names: Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T. According to Wave 7 Research (via 9to5Google), after the first two months of availability, Pixel sales rose to represent 3% to 5% of carrier phone sales in the states.

The leading purveyor of Pixel phones among the major U.S. carriers is Verizon where Pixel sales made up 3% of phone revenue in October and 5% in November. At AT&T, Pixel phones made up 3% of phone sales in both months while at T-Mobile the numbers were 2% and 3% for October and November respectively. While the data show more consumer interest in the stock Android phones, the line still lags behind both Samsung and Apple and has a way to go before catching up.

Google has been heavily promoting the new handsets by showing ads both online and on television. Carrier reps were asked if the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro  were selling "solidly" in their stores and T-Mobile reps were more likely to answer in the negative. The main issue selling the Pixel 6 line according to one store that Wave7 Research spoke to, was the shortage of product available.

More than one Verizon employee said that there was not enough inventory of the phones to cover demand. Even Google has had problems keeping enough supplies of the two models on its own store shelves. We must admit though that if you're going to have a problem selling your own device, it is much better for demand to be too high and supply to be too low than the other way around.

Google is currently offering free two-day shipping on all orders placed with the online Google Store. Simply apply the code 2DAYHOLIDAY to all orders at checkout. The company has inventory of unlocked Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro devices.

At Verizon, the Pixel 6 Pro in Stormy Black with 512GB of storage is on backorder for three weeks, and the 128GB model in Cloudy White arrives in just four days. However, if you want to double the storage to 256GB, you'll have to wait an additional month for that unit to arrive.

Google Pixel 6

The Pixel 6 is also available at BestBuy with our without carrier plan activation. All storage and color versions are in stock.

$599

Expired

Google Pixel 6 Pro

Same BestBuy conditions apply to the Pixel 6 Pro too. You can get an unlocked version or a version with a carrier plan.

$899 ⁹⁹

Buy at BestBuy

T-Mobile's website shows that it is currently out of stock of Pixel 6 Pro units. Over at AT&T, the 128GB Pixel 6 Pro in Stormy Black will arrive between December 30th and January 7th. The same model with 256GB of storage won't appear on your front doorstep until February 2nd at the earliest and February 23rd at the latest.

If you are looking to purchase the smaller and less expensive Pixel 6, the carrier you buy it from might determine which 5G signals will be supported by your phone. The Pixel 6 supports sub-6GHz 5G only which covers low and mid-band spectrum. While the coverage of sub-6GHz is much more widespread than mmWave, download data speeds will not be as fast. Verizon and AT&T's version of the Pixel 6 does support mmWave 5G, which is harder to find but does bring you wicked fast 5G speeds.

The Pixel 6 Pro, regardless of where you purchase it, supports both sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G.

Now that we are past the middle of December, some of the early bugs, which are traditional with the Pixel phone series dating back to the release of the OG model in 2016, are being exterminated by Google via the release of software updates.