I’ve upgraded my Pixel XL every year from the 6 to the 9 (pro). Say what you will about that financial decision. Each year I’ve told myself I only did it because it was such a “great deal” either for the sale price on the pixel or the “boosted trade-in value” from the previous.
I thought it would be fun to look at the prices for each in the context of the others and see how they varied from year to year.
Each year I bought the XL model with the lowest storage space (except the 9 pro), and pro when it was offered. Only one of the years I received a promotional item and I’ll note that. The total price is listed with tax.
Pixel 6 Pro 128gb
10/19/2021
Total: $969
Trade-in: $175 (of two year old Pixel 4XL)
Pixel Buds A: $99 (retail)
Net: $695
Pixel 7 Pro 128gb
11/7/2022
Total: $968
Trade-in: $500
Net: $468
Pixel 8 Pro 128gb
12/26/2023
Total $753
Trade-in: $315
Net: $438
Pixel 9 Pro 256gb
11/6/2024
Total: $904 (with "gold" play points discount)
Trade-in: $699
Net: $205
Net (If I had bought the 128gb): ~$105
Originally I’d planned to keep my 8 pro another year, but looking at it this way it makes more sense why I couldn’t help myself and go with the update again.
On another note, I find it annoying the way Google plays around with “boosted trade-in values.” I get that they do a lot of sales to encourage purchases, but changing around the trade-in values to create a sense of urgency and price confusion – especially on their own phones! – seems distasteful to me. They should stick with what they think is the actual value of their phones, and admit whether they do or don’t hold that value over time.
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I would have done the 8 to 9 if I’d gotten the offer. I actually checked hopefully haha. The fact that you’re gold says you really make use of your device, making the upgrade worth more to you than others I’d imagine.
I like that they do favorable offers to people who support their services. I received an offer targeting Google One users, but it wasn’t as nice as yours!
I actually signed up for Play Pass to get the automatic update to gold, which triggered the 30% off. Best $5 I ever spent haha
Wait whaaaat? Is that deal over?
I have gold and i see the offer:
I’m not sure. Might be worth the $5 to find out if you’re in the US
I got the 9 Pro XL for €330 and I’ll sell my 6 Pro for around €200. Your journey is wild.
Trading in a P8P for $699 is wild. The Google store offers $360 in Canada. And the P9P costs CAD$1,349.
Yeah, more than double what I got for my year old 7 pro.
The 8 to 9 upgrade wasn’t terribly expensive but the rest were a lot more. Do you think the individual upgrades were worth it? What were the biggest jumps in usability?
I still think of the 4A as the last good Pixel, since it has a headphone jack. So I’ve been wondering if it can run current versions of Graphene.
The main attraction of the 9 from my perspective is NTN (satellite) messaging, but older models might get that later. I certainly don’t want AI in my phone.
I see there are some fairly affordable older Pixels on woot right now, particularly refurbs, but some new units too. Refurb 6 is $145 and refurb 7 is $200. New 9 Pro XL is $900, way more than I’m willing to pay. I wonder whether the older ones are basically as good if you don’t care about AI or the fanciest cameras.
I tell myself I do the upgrades for the camera improvements since I take a lot of pictures of my daughter.
For 6 to 7 the biggest reason was the awful modem and I had trouble with phone calls. I was dating at the time and it was awful to have women tell me they couldn’t hear me over the phone. The phone also overheated a lot.
If I were you I’d go with the 7. The modem wasn’t perfect but it was a lot better.
For 7 to 8 it was the improved wide angle camera.
For 8 to 9 it’s the improved selfie camera, improved camera zoom performance, battery life, and because it was so cheap.
Seems the 4A is on legacy extended support
I’m trading in a 8Pro and a 7Pro and getting 2x 9s for $~150 🥹 because of the pre-black Friday sale.
I had 0 plans to do this, until I saw the values. And figure it’s easier to flash new phones then my current in-use-daily-driver.
And flashing GraphineOS on em yay.
See the other comment chain, looks like you can still get the 30% off deal by signing up for Play Pass.
I usually buy the 2 year care plan. Do you?
No. Knock on wood but I’m generally pretty careful with my phones and have had good experiences with support when they need a warranty replacement.
