Google Store Crashes After Pixel 6 Series Rollout

The Google Pixel 6 debut, seen as the company's latest and greatest attempt to compete with Apple Inc's iPhone, was hampered by online outages that prevented would-be buyers from purchasing the device.

Customers who tried to buy the phones on Tuesday immediately struggled. The company's website was crashing, slow, or displaying error messages to many consumers. The problems lasted about five hours before being solved.

"The Google Store was temporarily down but is now back up. We apologize for the inconvenience," a Google spokesperson shared in a statement.

It is not clear whether the outages were due to higher demand than anticipated or an unforeseen error. The redesigned phones will hit stores on October 28. Customers were still able to order the devices from partner carrier stores.

Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., made major design changes to its Pixel line with the latest models, adding a custom processor and camera enhancements. It has the high-end Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro to make it a force majeure on mobile phones. Although Google's Android software is the largest smartphone operating system, the company only has a small slice of the market for the phones themselves.