Google Puts an End to Pixel Pass Subscription Plans

Google says its 2-year-old Pixel Plan subscription service is no more.

The tech giant launched the program, which let Pixel smartphone buyers subscribe to services like Google Play Pass and YouTube Premium, in 2021.

Now, Google said the program would be discontinued as of Aug. 29 — an update first noted by the website 9to5Google — though it’s not entirely clear why.

“We offer the best value of our hardware products and give users the flexibility to purchase their favorite services,” the company’s service page says. “We continue to evaluate offers based on customer feedback and provide different ways for them to access the best of Google.”

PYMNTS has contacted Google for comment but has not yet received a reply.

According to the service page, the program is no longer open to new subscribers. Existing subscribers can continue using their subscription for a period of two years from the date on they signed up for Pixel Pass.

“By the end of the 2 year term, you can’t upgrade to a new phone with Pixel Pass,” Google said.

The news comes as platforms such as YouTube are raising the prices of subscriptions. For example, Disney recently announced it was hiking the price of its streaming services beginning Oct. 12, with the ad-free version of Disney+ and Hulu, both seeing significant increases.

CEO Bob Iger acknowledged that in spite of operating-income improvements and cost-cuts of streaming losses throughout the last three quarters, the entertainment goliath faces a “challenging environment” in the near term.

As PYMNTS has written, companies argue that the cost of producing original programming and obtaining rights to movies and series are behind the increases.

However, “with recessionary economics causing budgetary introspection, it’s fair to wonder what will happen with subscribers this year,” PYMNTS wrote in April.

Research from the “Subscription Commerce Readiness Report,” a PYMNTS and sticky.io collaboration, found that cost was the most common reason behind cancellations, with 56% of consumers canceling a subscription in the previous 12 months due to the price.

A separate report,  “Subscription Commerce Conversion Index: Subscribers Seek Affordability And Convenience,” showed that 53% of consumers paying for a streaming subscription and 48% of those paying for a membership “would cancel the service if unable to pay other essential bills. The key determinant of what constitutes a valuable subscription is often tied to its ability to fulfill its original purpose as consumers consider their options.”