If numbers from IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo are anything to go by, Google managed to ship 3.9 million Pixel smartphones in 2017 — double of what they did in 2016. While impressive, one must remember that the original Pixel and Pixel XL went on sale only in late 2016 so they did very well in just 3-4 months despite a limited marketing push from Google.

In comparison, the 3.9 million Pixel smartphones that Google shipped was throughout 2017. There’s no denying the fact that the launch of the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL did help in giving the overall Pixel sales a boost, which was helped further by heavy promotional discounts offered by Google when the holiday season kicked in.

#GooglePixel shipments continue to grow, but they still represent a tiny portion of the smartphone market pic.twitter.com/W6FVZlYOlC

— Francisco Jeronimo (@fjeronimo) February 12, 2018

Despite the impressive growth, Google still has a lot of ground to cover before it becomes a force to reckon with in the smartphone industry in terms of sales. At 3.9 million units, Google’s overall smartphone sales are significantly smaller than that of Huawei, Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, and other major Chinese smartphone manufacturers.

However, when compared to the likes of the Essential Phone which sold only 90,000 units since its launch, Google’s hardware division is doing much better. With the company getting serious about its various hardware products and smartphones with every passing year, the sales of Google’s Pixel handsets are only bound to grow further. And despite the Pixel smartphones selling less than 5 million units in a year, do remember that they still have the best camera ever you’d find on a smartphone which is a sign of Google’s hardware and software prowess.