This is my new favorite thing about Google’s early Pixel 6 announcement

We’ve talked a bit already about Google’s choice to upend the standard phone release cycles this year. They are playing by different rules this time around, usurping leak culture and shocking potential new users with pre-release information about their new phones left and right. We’ve already had the official announcement of Pixel 6 and Tensor in early August, the new landing page that on Google’s Store, a Pixel 6 in the window at the brick-and-mortar Google Store in New York City, and a new commercial already running on television and streaming media promoting the new handsets. For a phone that has yet to actually launch, Google is not being shy about showing it off.

To be honest, I love it. Everything leaks these days, so why not approach a big phone launch from a new angle, right? Why not let people see it, talk about it, and start imagining using it on a daily basis? I think Google’s strategy here is a very good one and I’m really hopeful that it pays dividends this time around. After 5 years of mediocre sales, I’d love nothing more than to see Google knock it out of the park with Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.

https://youtu.be/xMZaObIQps8

My favorite benefit of the early announcement

As fun as it has all been thus far, though, what I’m especially hyped about is the fact that I can already hop on Amazon and order a case for the phone I 100% plan on buying as soon as humanly possible. For previous phone releases, I’ve always been penalized for buying on day one with the fact that it is nearly impossible to find a good case right out of the gate. Sure, you have a few manufacturer-made cases that sell out in minutes and cell providers stock a few generic cases that they mark up to the stratosphere, but those aren’t real options. I don’t want to pay $50 for a standard, clear TPU case that I know will be available online in a few days for under $10.

So, in the past, I rolled the dice and waited. I’d leave the store, phone in hand, hoping against hope that I don’t have a ‘whoops’ moment and shatter my new phone on the sidewalk. So far, so good, but I genuinely hate walking out of a store with my phone in my pocket, case-less. There are risks I’m willing to endure, but a naked phone is one I don’t toy around with.

But this time it will be different. This time, cases are already out there and available on Amazon and other sites around the web and they are shipping as we speak. As a matter of fact, I ordered mine just now and it will be here in a couple days. There are pages of cases already available and you can go ahead and select the one you want (mine cost a whopping $7), have it shipped, and be ready to receive your Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro with a case standing by.

Though I see a lot of benefit across the board for Google choosing to do things the way they are with this phone release, the fact that I can already get my case since the phone isn’t shrouded in mystery is simply my favorite right now. The only times I’ve had a case in my hand the moment I got a new phone was when I either overpaid for one in the cell phone store, when the phone luckily came with a case, or when circumstances kept me from purchasing the device I wanted on day one. Those circumstances haven’t come up in the past that often, and my general posture is one of over-protection for the first few days of new phone ownership. I’m so thankful that won’t be the case with Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.