What you need to know
- Google has expanded the availability of Pixel smartphone 5G to additional countries where previous models did not support 5G.
- The addition of these new markets brings the total number of supported regions to 38, providing more choice for potential Pixel buyers.
- Despite the expansion, Google has not officially sold its latest Pixel smartphones in the newly added markets, highlighting the company’s complicated sales strategy.
Google has added more countries where 5G connectivity is available for Pixel phones.
The search giant has quietly enabled 5G on its Pixel smartphones in many places where even models like the Pixel 8 series didn’t originally support connectivity features like 5G, VoLTE, and Wi-Fi calling. According to 9to5Google, Google has added seven new regions including Croatia, Iceland, Latvia, Greece, Hungary, Liechtenstein, and Slovakia.
These new additions bring the total number of supported markets to 38. This means more options for users looking to get their hands on Google’s popular Android smartphone.
It’s worth mentioning that Google doesn’t actually sell its latest Pixel smartphones, such as the Pixel 8 series or Pixel 7a, in any of these newly added markets.
According to 9to5, the Pixel 8 series is sold exclusively through the official Google Store in just 20 countries. These include Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, Taiwan, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States.
It’s unclear why the Mountain View-based tech giant is making this expansion, but given that many people in these countries buy Pixels through unofficial channels, it’s possible that Google could expand its support in these areas. There is a high possibility that there are.
Either way, the move is expected to provide Pixel owners with a consistent connectivity experience as they move from country to country.
Still, Google Pixel’s 5G availability still appears to be quite limited, excluding some regions such as South America and Africa. Since 2020, users have been voicing concerns about the lack of universal availability of his Pixel 5G, and unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.
