This is just market research, when they asked the community what they see in the competitor,
people said 'no headphone jack' and 'overpriced crap'.
Google just delivered on these desires.
Yes. Apparently, when they sold the amazing value for money Nexus phones (especially the 5), no one wanted buy those "cheap plastic phones". Pixel 1, the overpriced phone was the first one people noticed and bought. Sad, but true.
Remember the bootloop issue in 5x and 6p? They have a long way to go in this market.
My Nexus 6P soft bricked itself in exactly this way, by spiraling into a never-ending bootloop. I contacted Google to ask for help, and they wouldn't even send me the documents I needed to get my credit card's warranty service extension program to replace my phone. I will never again buy a Google hardware device as long as I live.
Why would anyone buy a phone from an advertising company?