This week, Google announced that it would discontinue its Pixel Pass subscription service after less than two years – before subscribers could actually reap some of the benefits of the subscription they thought they had been paying for.
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Pixel Pass debuted alongside the Pixel 6 series, the duo that effectively served as a reboot to Google’s smartphones by bringing a new chip and a clear new focus. The subscription, which started at $45 per month, was reasonably compelling. Subscribers were promised YouTube Premium, Google Play Pass, Google One storage, a protection plan, and the cost of their phone. The real selling point wasn’t the bundle, though, it was the idea that in two years, you’d get the latest Pixel with that monthly payment in mind.
That was 22 months ago.
As of this week, Pixel Pass has been discontinued, with Google neither offering the subscription on future Pixel releases nor continuing the offer for existing subscribers. Anyone who was waiting on that imminent upgrade to the Pixel 8 is left without that part of the deal.
Google isn’t leaving users without anything, though. They still get to keep the phone they’ve paid for (at the end of the two-year term), and all the bundled subscriptions fulfilled their job and will continue to be discounted. Plus, subscribers get a $100 credit to put toward a future Google hardware purchase, whether that’s a Pixel phone or something else. And, doing the math, it works out.
Assuming you subscribed to Pixel Pass for the base Pixel 6 at $45/month back in October 2021 when the device first launched, you would have spent $990 to date…
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