Even with the $100 price increase for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, Google still has the best budget phone with the $499 Pixel 7a. But those holding out for something cheaper are still likely to be disappointed.

Google executives have dismissed the prospect of ultra-low-cost Pixel devices for the time being.

The executive in question is Nanda Ramachandran, Google's vice president of mobile business, who told German publication Der Standard that when asked about the possibility of a 200 euro (~$211) Pixel, "the chances of going in that direction are pretty low," he was He is quoted as saying (from Google Translate).

"You would have to make a lot of compromises to do that," he added, citing the camera, security, and AI smart features as key elements that make the Pixel the Pixel.

The camera has been a key element of Pixel phones since the first Pixel phones were introduced; Google's image processing allows Pixel phones to take better snapshots than phones with higher megapixel counts and wider apertures. AI features such as magic erasers and automatic transcription would also have to be discarded. In other words, take away the main USP of a cell phone and it becomes worthless.

Although not explicitly stated, there are likely a couple more pledges Google has made for the upcoming Pixels that it does not want the headache of replicating for a theoretical cheap model.

The first is Google's promise to make Android and security updates available for seven years on new Pixel 8 devices, meaning buyers can continue to use them safely until 2030. At the same time, the company also promised to provide spare parts for the same period. Of course, it could have released a less expensive Pixel without making the same promise, but that would have made the promise of sustainability seem a bit hollow.

Finally, there is the elephant in the room: despite its very high reputation, the Pixel has not yet penetrated the global smartphone market very well, with market research firm Statista earlier this year estimating that only 4.6% of Americans use Google phones as their primary device and estimated that only 4.6% of Americans use a Google phone as their primary device.

Because of ridiculously tight margins, the budget handset market is even more competitive than the pool Google is currently fishing for. They may just not want to fight the Xiaomi's, Nokia's, and Samsung's of this world on extremely unfavorable terms.