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Short answer - Google pretends they're a company they're not. When they release products in new markets, often markets their culture isn't aligned to, the products struggle. That struggle gives leadership a reason to kill the product.

I'm personally amazed Pixel phones haven't been killed yet and can't shake the feeling that will happen any day now.

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Pixel phones are partnerships with phone manufacturers. They sold off their in-house phone unit years ago.

Your understanding is about 8 years out of date.

The Nexus line followed the JDM model you describe, ending with the 2015 Nexus 6P designed by Huawei. Starting with the Pixel in 2016, Google has been the designer and seller of record for all their phones, accelerating with the acquisition of HTC's phone team in 2017. The 2021 Pixel 6, moreover, used Google's in-house SoC ("Tensor"), which had been under development for years, rather than a Qualcomm chipset. That was a significant milestone.

I did miss that. Thanks for the info.

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