By Kenrick Cai, Max A. Cherney
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California -Alphabet’s Google on Tuesday unveiled a lineup of latest Pixel smartphones with deeper integrations of its synthetic intelligence expertise because it races to include AI into its {hardware}.
The occasion at Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:) Bay View campus in Mountain View, California, bucks a convention Google has maintained with each iteration of Pixel – its flagship smartphone launched in October 2016 – to announce the brand new model in autumn.
The sooner timing is Google’s newest bid to maintain up with rivals in injecting AI options into its consumer-facing merchandise and comes forward of Apple (NASDAQ:)’s deliberate launch of a brand new iPhone in September.
In June, Apple introduced that units together with its newest model of iPhones would get upgrades that embrace “Apple Intelligence,” a slew of generative AI-powered options inside native functions, and an integration with ChatGPT, the chatbot developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI.
“We have seen a whole lot of AI bulletins in a brief burst of time as of late. I do not suppose you wish to sit on it too lengthy in case you’re Google,” stated IDC analyst Linn Huang.
New AI integrations introduced on Tuesday embrace a Pixel-only characteristic that lets customers seek for info saved in screenshots. Android customers also can now pull up Gemini, Google’s chatbot, as an overlay on high of one other app to reply questions or generate content material.
“There have been so many guarantees, so many coming soons, and never sufficient real-world helpfulness with regards to AI, which is why immediately we’re getting actual,” stated Rick Osterloh, Google’s senior vp of units and companies. “We’re totally within the Gemini period.”
Staff showcased a number of reside demos of latest Gemini capabilities, comparable to a voice dialog characteristic, although an try to make use of Gemini to cross-reference an image of a live performance poster with the calendar app took three tries and two units to run efficiently.
Pixel 9, the bottom 6.3-inch show mannequin, will retail at a beginning value of $799, which is $100 greater than the earlier mannequin. This and the 6.8-inch Pixel 9 Professional XL will start delivery later in August, an organization spokesperson stated. The Pixel 9 Professional, which comes with added options like a greater digicam, and the foldable Pixel 9 Professional Fold will ship in September.
The brand new devices can be found to preorder on Tuesday.
Google holds lower than 1% market share in international smartphone shipments as of the second quarter of 2024, in keeping with IDC. It trails far behind Samsung’s market share of 18.9% and Apple’s market share of 15.8%, in keeping with IDC. That’s partly as a result of Google has entered fewer markets and is concentrated on higher-end value segments.
In the USA, Google’s 4.5% share makes it the fourth-biggest smartphone maker, in keeping with IDC.
However the Pixel line has additionally enabled Google to point out off advances and spur the developer ecosystem round its Android working system, which is utilized by system producers like Samsung (KS:).
Android represents one in every of a number of frontlines the place Google is battling rivals to embed AI in ways in which customers will use. In Might, it debuted a swath of upgrades to core merchandise like its search engine.
The corporate’s engineers redesigned the Pixel’s exterior and included digicam upgrades in addition to Google’s new Tensor G4 chip.
Google introduced new variations of its smartwatch, the Pixel Watch 3, and Pixel Buds Professional 2 wi-fi earbuds on Tuesday as nicely.
