The end of 2021 has been host to several events we thought were borderline out of the question and have since shocked us. The Braves ended an insanely long championship drought, Yellowstone’s return actually lived up to expectations, OpTic Gaming has merged with rival Envy, and now Google is on the verge of breaking a long-running Black Friday tradition.
For many years in a row, Google has launched its new Pixel phone a few weeks before we hit the Black Friday shopping weekend and sells a good number to its biggest fans. It then proceeds to anger those same fans by dropping a big ol’ discount on the phone they just bought (at full price) through the year’s biggest shopping event.
We had $50 off the Pixel 5 shortly after launch in 2020, $200 off (!) the Pixel 4 in 2019, and $150 off the Pixel 3 in 2018. The last time they didn’t cut off a good chunk of a Pixel phone’s price was with the Pixel 2, but they still offered $100 credit and some freebies.
For 2021, Google won’t piss off Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro owners – we think. The company pushed out its Black Friday 2021 preview today and the Pixel 6 isn’t mentioned anywhere!
Instead, we have $50 off the new Nest Doorbell (battery), $50 off Pixel 5a, $10 off Chromecast with Google TV, $50 off Nest Hub (2nd Gen), $40 off Nest Audio, and more. But again, the only phone they are (so far) previewing is the Pixel 5a.
Now, keep in mind that I’m both happy and sad that we aren’t seeing a Pixel 6 discount. I’m of the early adopter group, who would be upset that I paid $100 or so more than Black Friday shopping guy. But I’m also disappointed that a bunch of you won’t see a discount on Google’s best phones in years.
I can’t say that it’s at all surprising that Google wouldn’t discount these phones at the moment. Both are already so reasonably priced that there may not be much room for them to move. Both phones are also sold out in most colorways and storage options, with waitlists that stretch for weeks, so there aren’t really any phones for them to sell or discount.
Either way, Google could bring out a last minute discount for Black Friday, but the chances seem slim for this year.