Google Pixel Improvement Plan: Turning the Phone Into a Sales Leader
Company: Google
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
You are the product manager for Google's Pixel phones and are asked how you would improve Pixel so that it outsells every other phone. Define what winning means, explain why buyers choose other phones today, decide which buyers you would go after, propose the improvements you would make in priority order, and describe how you would measure progress.
The question can also come in a plainer form: how would you increase Pixel sales and get more people to buy one? In that version there is no target of becoming the best-selling phone; the goal is simply more buyers.
```hint Improve what blocks the sale
Sales are lost at different stages: some buyers never consider Pixel, some cannot find it in their store or on their carrier, and some pick a rival in the side-by-side comparison. Tie each improvement to the stage it fixes, and be honest about the stages new features cannot fix.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Does "best-selling" mean the most units, the most revenue, or the top spot in a particular market or price band?
- Is a specific market or time horizon intended, or is choosing them part of the answer?
- Can the plan change hardware, price and distribution, or only the phone's software and features?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- A precise, realistic definition of winning (metric, market, price band, time frame) and why that target is worth pursuing.
- A diagnosis of lost sales across the funnel (awareness, availability, comparison, satisfaction and repurchase) before any feature ideas.
- A segment choice that weighs switching costs, for example Android owners versus iPhone owners, and the chosen segment's specific pain points.
- Prioritized improvements across the product and the levers a phone team must coordinate with (pricing, carriers, retail, marketing), each tied to a pain point.
- Metrics on share and the purchase funnel, with guardrails on margin, quality and Google's relationships with other Android phone makers.
### Follow-up Questions
- Your largest Android partner complains that Pixel is competing with them. How do you respond, and does it change your plan?
- A feature you launched only on Pixel becomes a hit. Do you keep it exclusive or bring it to all Android phones?
- How would you tell whether a sales increase came from your product changes rather than a price cut or a marketing push?
Overview: A product improvement question for Pixel product managers: how to improve Google's phone until it leads smartphone sales. It tests defining a realistic sales target, diagnosing where Pixel loses buyers, choosing a segment with low switching costs, and prioritizing product and distribution changes with clear metrics.