Google kills two-year “Pixel Pass” subscription after just 22 months

Android@lemmy.world – 142 points – 1 years ago

Google kills two-year “Pixel Pass” subscription after just 22 months

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/4197026

Google kills two-year “Pixel Pass” subscription after just 22 months::Two years on a Pixel Pass was supposed to get you a new phone.

Obligatory https://killedbygoogle.com although I don't see Pixel Pass listed yet.

My favorite so far was when the rumor about Stadia going away, and I think it was members on the Stadia team posted that the rumors were false. Then like a week or 2 later Google announces Stadia is shutting down.

I always like how they describe how old the product was one when google killed it, almost as if it was a young child's eulogy.

"Android Auto for Phone Screens was killed. It was almost two years old."

The Stadia team spent an inordinate amount of time on social media defending their bullshit on various alt accounts. I can't prove it, but go read some of the shit on the stadia subreddit and tell me those aren't people who's livelihood isn't tied to the future of this trash platform.

That sounds like a class action waiting to happen.

while new signups are no longer allowed, existing users will be able to finish out their two-year term.

So existing contracts aren't affected, they just aren't renewing them or writing any new ones.

The end of the term was supposed to mean re-upping with a shiny new device, but Google now says, "By the end of the 2 year term, you can’t upgrade to a new phone with Pixel Pass."

Which means that everyone who went 22 months expecting to get a new phone in another 2 effectively got kinda screwed.

They would have to sign another contract for another 24 months to get it, nobody was getting an upgrade on the existing contract because it's just a bundle of Google services (One, YT Premium etc.) and financing on the phone. And if you don't care about the services, Google's two year financing is cheaper than this bundle.

Fair point. It'd could've been contingent on the financing model, but looks like the phone is evenly financed over the entire 2 year period.

It's confusing because they make it sound like a privilege. "Eligible for a new phone" = "You can finance the purchase of a new phone at full price just like everyone else, and you have to give back the old phone you already paid for".