When I first saw the leaked price of $419.99 for the Pixel XL/128 yesterday morning, I thought, yeah, I can definitely be interested in this phone. Later, I discovered this was the Verizon price. And now, looking at the VZW site, I don't see that price at all. Just $36.24/month or $869.99 retail price.
Regardless,when the ~$870 price was confirmed, my interest sank to zero. And thus, I'm surprised and somewhat saddened that no 2016 flagship phone really commands any interest from me. That's partly if not mostly due to a value perspective on my part. I simply see little value in spending nearly $1000 on a smartphone that will be obsolete/unsupported in 2 years or less... with the possible exception of the iPhone and maybe the Pixel... but less so the Pixel since Google doesn't promise support past 2 years for the OS. Even my wife's iPhone5 from 2013 still gets updates and is running 10.0.x right now.
And while I seriously considered the iP7+/128, I simply couldn't generate enough interest in iOS to spend the money, even though I could likely sell it next year and still get a good price on it, if I kept it pristine (which I normally do). The Pixel is in uncharted waters in that regard.
I really wanted to go Nexus this time around for the timely updates. But then it became Pixel. And when the Pixel was confirmed in all its splendor yesterday, IMO it became too much $ for too little ... or in my terms, did not offer value to me.
So I ordered the OP3 and hope that will work out well.