Verizon has been Google’s exclusive carrier partner for its Pixel smartphones since 2016. Things might change this year as a new report claims that T-Mobile could soon start selling the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. This may open the door for future Pixel smartphones to land on T-Mobile as well in addition to Verizon.
9to5Google hears from a source that T-Mobile will soon start selling the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, thus ending Verizon’s exclusivity on the devices. It was always possible to use an unlocked Pixel handset on T-Mobile, or another carrier for that matter, but this would mark the first time that T-Mobile sells the phone directly to customers.
It’s not clear at this point in time whether the phones that T-Mobile ends up selling would be unlocked but it’s an unlikely proposition to begin with. It’s also believed that T-Mobile is testing the rumored Pixel 3a for network compatibility.
That obviously doesn’t reveal anything about exclusivity deals. Google may still choose to launch it as a Verizon exclusive but the unlocked variant of that device would also be able to work on T-Mobile without any issues. Google and T-Mobile haven’t commented on the matter as yet so take this information with a grain of salt until there’s official information to go on.