Google takes on Apple with new smartphone

Google has launched a new smartphone to compete against Apple’s iPhone at the premium end of a global market worth 400 billion US dollars.

The “Pixel” phone was announced on Tuesday along with a suite of new consumer electronics, indicating that Google has placed itself firmly in the hardware business. It is the clearest sign yet that Google intends to compete head-to-head with Apple and even manufacturers of phones using its own Android mobile operating system.

"The thinking is that if we can work on hardware and software together, we can innovate much better," Google hardware chief Rick Osterloh told Reuters, citing a recent reorganization that united once-disparate hardware teams.

Unlike earlier Google phone efforts under the Nexus brand, the Pixel devices are designed and developed by Google from the start, although Taiwan's HTC Corp will serve as the contract manufacturer.

The phone comes in two sizes, and its high-end camera is one of few distinguishing features, analysts said. The phones come in black, blue and silver and will be able to get up to a seven-hour charge in 15 minutes.

"Aside from the camera, the new Google Pixels are pretty undifferentiated compared to Samsung and iPhone seventh-generation phones," industry analyst Patrick Moorhead said.

Google's strategy of licensing Android for free and profiting from embedded services such as search and maps have made Android the dominant mobile operating system with some 89 percent of the global market, according to market researchers IDC.

But Apple still rules the high end of the market, and Google has long been frustrated by the emergence of many variations of Android and the inconsistent experience that has produced.

The other devices Google announced on Tuesday include a smart speaker, a virtual reality headset and a WiFi router. Tuesday’s launch event also saw Google executives tout a new voice-activated artificial intelligence system, which will be embedded into the phones and offer an alternative to Apple’s Siri.

No announcement has been made as to whether the Pixel will be available in China, the world’s largest smartphone market. That situation helps to explain why Chinese tech fans have been somewhat pessimistic about the new phone’s prospects, with the news much discussed on Sina Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter.

Someone with the screen name “GodofCats” wrote, “There are so many phone brands nowadays. The iPhone and its system have taken the lion’s share of the market. For the Android system, the market is cluttered with various brands, and if there is no substantial difference, it would be difficult for a new brand to survive.” 

“As the Google service is not available in China, I will never consider using an Android phone,” said “Laishicha”.

According to “NewtypeRX-0”, “Android will never defeat the iPhone if it remains so poorly managed. Samsung could be threatened though.”