What Comes With the Pixel Pass?
Google announced that the Pixel Pass would include either a Pixel 6 or a Pixel 6 Pro and a few popular Google services. Here’s what you’ll get:
Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro phone YouTube Premium YouTube Music Premium Google One 200GB plan Google Play Pass Preferred Care coverage
If you want a Pixel 6, all that will set you back $45 per month. If you want a Pixel 6 Pro, you’ll need to shell out $55 per month. Both subscriptions last for two years. If you decide you don’t like the Pixel Pass, you can cancel it at any time, and you’ll be liable for the remainder of the cost of your Pixel 6 phone.
Is Pixel Pass a Good Value?
In the blog post announcing the Pixel Pass, Google says that you can save over up to $294 over two years. That sounds like a lot of money, but it shakes out to only $12.25 per month. Importantly, that’s the maximum you can save and requires purchasing the most expensive Pixel 6 Pro model.
We decided to add up the savings with the cheapest plan, the $45 per month option for the base Pixel 6. Google sells the phone itself for $24.96 per month. YouTube Premium (which includes YouTube Music Premium) sells for $11.99 per month. Google One with 200GB of storage costs $2.99 per month. Play Pass is $4.99, and Google’s Preferred Care extended warranty is $7 per month.
That would bring the total to $51.93 if you were to sign up for all of these services independently. That’s a $6.93 per month savings, which isn’t terrible but is hardly enough to make this a must-buy deal. Over two years, you’ll save $166. The savings Google quotes on the regular Pixel 6 are up to $176, which is the amount you’ll save with the slightly more expensive 256GB version.
You only get an upgrade every two years compared to Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program, which offers an upgrade every year and even more monthly value. In the end, this seems like an acceptable deal for someone who wants all of Google’s services, but not necessarily one you need to line up to get.
What About Google Fi?
If you’re a Google Fi subscriber, the value is a little better, as you get all of the other subscriptions plus another $5 off your monthly phone bill. That does make it a little more appealing and worth signing up for, though it’s still not a deal that’ll blow you away.
You can add an additional $120 to the numbers quoted above, so if you go with the base model Pixel 6, you’ll save over $286 over two years, which is nothing to scoff at. For Google Fi subscribers who are interested in all of the other stuff the plan comes with, picking this bundle up is definitely a smart decision.
