Google's hardware chief has said its new flagship smart phone was designed to go on sale during an economic downturn. As a result, the Pixel 5 has abandoned some of its predecessor's headline features and runs on a slower chip in order to be sold at a lower price. However, it does gain 5G connectivity and some new photography capabilities. Experts say it will face tough competition from other mid-range Android handsets, but the included bundle of Google services could help. And on a price-specs basis alone, Google will probably lose to Samsung and Chinese competitors. Its key selling point, however, remains that it offers a stock Android experience with superfast updates. This is a reference to the fact that many other Android device-makers layer their own proprietary user interfaces on top of Google's operating system, and typically take longer to offer software updates. The Pixel 5 will cost $699/£599, and has a 6in (15.2cm) display and 128 gigabytes of storage. That compares to the $999/£929 price of last year's top-end 6.3in Pixel 4XL. Google also unveiled a 5G-enabled version of its existing Pixel 4a, which will cost £499.