In 2020, Google Pixel was in a remarkably tough spot. A flailing flagship with one of its central features effectively ruined by a global pandemic combined with massive supply shortages meant that grand plans for the future were on hold. It was always going to be a tough year to release a smartphone but, looking back, the Pixel 5 maybe doesn’t get enough credit for making the best of it.
Our Damien Wilde reviewed the Pixel 5 and called it an “exercise in compromise,” and I think that sums up this device quite nicely, perhaps even better than we thought at the time.
On the surface level, the Pixel 5 felt like a weird step forward after the Pixel 4 series. A much less powerful chipset wrapped up in a plastic “bio-resin” that replaced metal and glass was completely out of the ordinary for a flagship smartphone. Yet, it also addressed some of the Pixel 4’s failings by going back to a fingerprint sensor, by packing in a much larger battery, and by feeling a bit more familiar to what had come before after the prior year’s big swing on design.
And, looking back on it today, this thing aged quite well!
It’s still odd to think of this as a “flagship” as, across the board, it was a better fit in the mid-range category. Yet, through and through, it managed to nail down the fundamentals of the hardware. It feels good in a way that’s unique. Where the plastic Pixel 4a had virtually the same design, the Pixel 5’s resin material added some extra grip while managing to feel just a bit more premium. I’m not sure I ever appreciated it enough at the time, but with virtually everything going all-in on shatterable glass and heavy metal in 2026, a durable material like this is so refreshing.
Ultimately, Google’s Pixel 5 was a device that didn’t fit in. We’ll probably never know all of the details around its development, but it’s been said that, at some point, Google apparently wanted Tensor to debut in this time frame rather than ultimately launching a year later on the Pixel 6. We found evidence that suggested the switch wasn’t as last-minute as suggested, but even without such a radical change on deck, the Pixel 5 was absolutely born out of a rough series of circumstances and, looking back, it wasn’t half bad.
Did you have a Pixel 5? Do you remember it fondly?
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