Verizon has now made it official. It will be carrying both of Google’s new Pixel smartphones, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, and it will be the only US carrier offering the two devices. Verizon, similar to last year, is the only US carrier selling the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, but that doesn’t mean that customers on other carriers can’t use these smartphones. Google is selling them unlocked on its own store as well. Both Verizon and the Google Store are opening up pre-orders today, with the Pixel 2 launching on October 19th – meaning pre-orders should be delivered by then if not a few days early.
Pricing has not yet been announced for Verizon, but you should expect the same pricing as what the Google Store is charging for both smartphones. Which is $649 for the smaller Pixel 2 with 64GB of storage ($749 for 128GB of storage) and then $849 for the larger Pixel 2 XL ($949 for the 128GB model). The major advantage to buying the Google Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL from Verizon over Google is the fact that you will be able to finance it, without having to stick with using Project Fi. With Verizon Edge, you can expect to pay around $27/month for the Pixel 2 and $35/month for the Pixel 2 XL for 24 months. This is also 0% interest, so you are only paying the real price of the phone, and nothing more for financing it through Verizon.
The Google Pixel 2 sports a 5-inch 1080p display with a 2700mAh battery while the Pixel 2 XL has a 6-inch Quad HD display and a larger 3520mAh battery. Otherwise the two devices actually sport roughly the same specs. These include the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core chipset, which is paired with 4GB of RAM, 64GB or 128GB of storage and no micro SD card slot. That means that there is no option to expand the storage on the Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL, which is a bit unfortunate, but 64GB of storage should be plenty for most people – especially with unlimited backup to Google Photos for all of the pictures you’ll take. Google is also selling the new Pixels in black, white and blue, and Verizon should have all three colors available.
Pre-Order Google Pixel 2 (Verizon)