Alphabet’s Google introduced on Wednesday a new line-up of Pixel smartphones and gadgets, intensifying its efforts to embed artificial intelligence across a wide ecosystem of products.
The products were launched at the annual “Made by Google” event held in New York that diverged from its typical format to emphasise mainstream consumer appeal over technical details.
Talk show host Jimmy Fallon, the Jonas Brothers and other celebrities featured heavily across the presentation, as they helped demonstrate real-world applications of Google’s AI integrations into the hardware.
As for the hardware itself, the upgrades were comparatively modest. “There has been a lot of hype about (AI in phones) and frankly a lot of broken promises too, but Gemini is the real deal,” said Rick Osterloh, Google’s senior vice-president of devices and services, referring to Google’s AI chatbot and model.
At its developer conference in June, iPhone maker Apple toned down its AI promises a year after it failed to deliver AI upgrades to key products such as Siri. Apple is expected to unveil its new line of iPhones this autumn.
While Google’s hardware upgrades were modest compared with its bold refresh in 2024, the company maintained its forward progress on its stated ambition to develop a universal AI assistant.
