Google Pixel

Google ad hints at new smartphones to come on 4 October

Life
Google has teased a new line of smartphones that ditch the Nexus brand

21 September 2016

Google has released an intriguing video hinting at the announcement of two new smartphones at an event on 4 October: the Pixel X and Pixel XL.

The 30-second ad shows a search bar rectangle that morphs into the shape of a smartphone accompanied by the 1974 hit single, Come and Get Your Love by the rock band Redbone.

A separate website, madeby.google.com with much the same content shows the smartphone shape with color photos and a place to sign up for email alerts for more information. Fans of the Google Nexus phones will notice the URL refers to “made by Google” as well. Billboards in New York City are also showing the promotion.

The promotion was also backed up by invitations to some media outlets for a Google event in San Francisco on the same day.

Reports suggest that Google will announce two new smartphones that day, the Pixel X with a 5″. screen, and the larger 5.5″. Pixel XL. They would presumably run a custom version of the latest Android OS, 7.0 dubbed Nougat. The phones would be manufactured by HTC.

Other reports indicate Google is dropping the Nexus name for Pixel, and plans to announce other products, such as its Daydream virtual reality device and Google Home, an alternative to the Amazon Echo.

The significance of the video and the reports of new smartphones should not be lost on average smartphone users.

Android phones dominate the global smartphone market, with an 85% share that is predicted to continue through 2020, according to research firm IDC. However, Google and even many Android phone makers, are clearly interested in keeping Android users updated with the latest operating system, along with the latest processors, cameras, sleek designs and other updates.

The Nexus line, going back to the Nexus One in 2009, has been one way that Google could show the best designs and uses for pure Android, even as it has served a small group of customers – mainly tech-savvy users.

“Google’s goal with Nexus, or now Pixel phones, is the same as always: an alternative to Samsung smartphones in the high end which can really show off Android and Google’s ecosystem,” said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies.

So far, “Nexus devices have not helped because of the limited sales channel,” meaning they are mainly sold unlocked on the web. Google needs wider distribution, but can’t really afford to work with carriers and mass retailers because doing so would increase Google’s costs and upset other Android phone manufacturers, Milanesi said.

Milanesi said another report that’s circulating is that Google will bring its pure Android approach through Nexus in-house completely and close it off to other partner/manufacturers. “Alienating partners no longer seems to be a concern,” she added.

Under that scenario, Google could make its Google Mobile Services (GMS) – including Google Search, Gmail, Chrome and Google Maps – proprietary in order to simplify the process of getting devices updated to the latest version of Android.

GMS is available only through a license with Google, according to the Android website, although installing it on devices requires no license fee.

More details may be forthcoming about a GMS that is more proprietary, expensive or restrictive for licensees. Google CEO Sundar Pichai told The Verge on 1 June that his company would “be more opinionated about the design of the phones,” particularly where Google sees a need to “push the devices forward”.

Pichai said then that Google would not create its own phones from scratch, and said Google’s plan was “still to work with OEMs to make phones”.

IDG News Service

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