The Japanese smartphone market is infamously very hostile. Impressive that a newcomer like Google managed to thrive there.

That’s pretty crazy seeing as how small the JDM is compared to the US and Europe.

i think its due to how pixels support Felica (all in one transport and payment card) and that it isn’t korean (beef between japan and korea).

I wonder if this will result in any significant changes to how Google designs or markets their devices?

That is really impressive. I think it helps that the carrier market in Japan is really diverse and Android phones are (or at least were, when I was there) common choices.