Google’s Pixel 3 XL and Pixel 3. AP Photo/Richard Drew

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It’s odd that Google’s Pixel 3 isn’t more popular. If you look at what consumers value in a smartphone, it ticks two of the top three boxes (according to a survey by Uswitch): a reasonable price and excellent camera.

It’s a testament to the power of Samsung and Apple’s brands that it’s so hard to challenge their duopoly. But there’s always space for a new entrant, as OnePlus has shown. So what can Google do to make the Pixel 4 more competitive?

Eco friendly

There is increasingly little justification for making and selling smartphones that are essentially defunt after 1.5 years. Either from a consumer or environmental point of view. So easily accessible and affordable repairs are – or will be – a must.

That means making official repair kits easier to access, cheap and providing guides on how to swap out components.

Google doesn’t financially rely on its smartphone hardware business like other manufacturers, so it’s probably best placed to make a big shift towards a more eco-friendly smartphone business. And there will likely be a lot of people who are happy to be part-time hobbyists whilst beefing up their environmental credentials. There’s a lot of moral and consumer capital to be made from offering repair services, and the first company to do so will benefit hugely.

Back to Pixel 2 greatness

The Pixel 2 had the best battery life I’ve used on a top-end smartphone, but whatever combination of software and hardware that worked on the Pixel 2 (or the impressive Pixel 3A XL) hasn’t been carried over to the Pixel 3. This needs sorting.

As I mentioned earlier, Google’s Pixel 3 hits two of the three most important features to a consumer. Where it’s found lacking is battery life. I’m not entirely sure why it’s worse this time around, but a device that’s cheap, has the best camera and the best battery life is what consumers are asking for. So Google has a lot to gain here, and it’s probably the only manufacturer close enough to perfecting all three.

Pixel specific assistant features

One of the biggest draws of a Pixel device is the software. Or, more specifically, its AI abilities.

Google has done well to carve out a unique experience that doesn’t rely solely on raw hardware. The picture processing that produces excellent results (although aided by the visual core chip), photo lens and recently Duplex have genuine, useful, real world benefits. More so than hand gestures to control the phone or a stylus pen. But whilst these features often appear on a Pixel first, they’re eventually rolled out to other Android devices – and in some cases to iOS.

It’s obviously good that other Android users get to use features built for, well, Android. I understand why Google makes them widely available, too. But it does mean that there’s less to differentiate between a Pixel and a similarly skinned-back Android device like a OnePlus, or Motorola handset.

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