“There’s been a lot of promise, a lot of stuff coming out, but not enough that’s useful,” said Rick Osterloh, Google’s senior vice president of product development. “So today we’re delivering the real thing… We’re living in the Gemini era.”

The event was larger than usual and held at Alphabet's Bay View campus in Mountain View, California, breaking with previous tradition by announcing the new Pixel line in the summer instead of the fall as usual.

“This was one of Google’s most elaborate and comprehensive events yet,” said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Techsponential. “They demonstrated that they are leading the way in AI.”

The earlier timing of the event is Google's attempt to keep up with rivals in integrating AI into consumer-facing products, ahead of Apple's expected launch of new iPhones in September.

In June, Apple announced that its devices, including the latest iPhone, will be upgraded with dynamic AI features and integration with OpenAI's ChatGPT.

The Pixel 9, the base model with a 6.3-inch display, starts at $799, $100 more than the previous model. The Pixel 9 and the 6.8-inch Pixel 9 Pro XL will ship in late August.

“Right now, consumers are interested in AI for two main things: better life management and content creation. I think Google has done a good job at both,” said IDC analyst Linn Huang.

Despite accounting for less than 1% of the global smartphone market share in Q2 2024, Google has a large role in driving the Android ecosystem, the operating system installed on more than 80% of smartphones worldwide.

Hong Hanh (according to Reuters)