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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Alphabet Inc.’s Google on Tuesday unveiled a series of new Pixel smartphones with deep integration of its artificial intelligence technology as it races to incorporate AI into its hardware.
The event, held at Alphabet’s Bay View campus in Mountain View, California, broke with Google’s tradition of releasing a new version of the Pixel, its flagship smartphone launched in October 2016, in the fall.
The early release is Google’s latest move to keep up with rivals in injecting artificial intelligence capabilities into its consumer products, and comes ahead of Apple’s planned September launch of a new iPhone.
In June, Apple announced that its devices, including the latest iPhone, would receive upgrades that included “Apple Intelligence,” a range of generative AI features in native apps, and integration with ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI.
“Recently, we’ve seen a lot of announcements about AI in a short period of time,” said Linn Huang, an analyst at IDC. “If you’re Google, I don’t think you want to wait too long.”
New AI integrations announced Tuesday include a Pixel-only feature that lets users search for information stored in screenshots. Android users can also now pull up Gemini, Google’s chatbot, on top of another app to answer questions or generate content.
“There’s been so much promise and so much coming to AI, but not enough help in the real world, and that’s why we’re jumping into action today,” said Rick Osterloh, Google’s senior vice president of devices and services. “We’re fully entering the Gemini era.”
Employees demonstrated several new features of Gemini, such as the voice chat function, but trying to use Gemini to cross-reference an image of a concert poster with a calendar app took three attempts and two devices to get working.
The Pixel 9, a base model with a 6.3-inch display, will start at $799, $100 more than the previous generation. That phone and the 6.8-inch Pixel 9 Pro XL will start shipping in late August, a company spokesperson said. The Pixel 9 Pro comes with additional features like a better camera, while the foldable Pixel 9 Pro Fold will ship in September.
The new products will be available for pre-order on Tuesday.
According to IDC, Google will account for less than 1% of global smartphone shipments by the second quarter of 2024. Google’s market share lags far behind Samsung’s 18.9% and Apple’s 15.8%, according to IDC. This is partly because Google is entering fewer markets and focusing on the premium price segment.
In the United States, Google is the fourth-largest smartphone maker with a 4.5% market share, according to IDC.
But the Pixel line also allows Google to showcase its progress and stimulate the developer ecosystem for its Android operating system, which is used by device makers such as Samsung.
Android is one of several fronts Google is battling with rivals to embed artificial intelligence into areas that consumers can use. In May, Google rolled out a series of upgrades to core products such as its search engine.
The company’s engineers redesigned the Pixel’s look and upgraded the camera and Google’s new Tensor G4 chip.
Google on Tuesday also released new versions of its Pixel Watch 3 smartwatch and Pixel Buds Pro 2 wireless earphones.
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