Current:Home > ScamsGoogle rolls out Pixel 9 phones earlier than usual as AI race with Apple heats up-InfoLens
Google rolls out Pixel 9 phones earlier than usual as AI race with Apple heats up
View Date:2024-12-23 10:44:48
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Google on Tuesday unveiled its next generation of Pixel phones, providing the maker of Android software a head start on the next iPhone in the race to bring more artificial-intelligence services to devices that have become people’s constant companions.
The showcase held near Google’s Mountain View, California, headquarters took place two months earlier than when the company typically rolls out the next models in its Pixel phone line-up, which made its debut eight years ago.
Although Pixel phones still represent a sliver of worldwide smartphone sides, they are still closely watched because they serve as Google’s platform for demonstrating the latest advances in the Android operating system that powers virtually every phone not made by Apple.
And Google left little doubt that the Pixel 9 phones are meant to be a vessel for the AI technology that is expected to reshape the way people live and work, just as smartphones in general have done over the past 15 years.
“We are obsessed with the idea that AI can make life easier and more productive for people,” Rick Osterloh, a Google senior vice president who oversees the Pixel phones, said Tuesday.
That’s similar to the theme Apple is accentuating as it prepares to make AI a centerpiece of the iPhone.
That moment is expect to arrive shortly after Labor Day when Apple traditionally takes the wraps off its next iPhone. The next model, the iPhone 16, is expected to be a big attraction because it will be equipped with the special chip needed to run a suite of AI features. Those features are designed to make Apple’s virtual assistant Siri smarter and perform a wide variety of other tasks that the company is promising will make people’s lives easier, while still protecting their privacy.
Not surprisingly, the Pixel 9 lineup is also packed with AI technology, a shift that the Google began last October when it released that year’s model. This generation of phones will be the first centered around the Gemini technology that’s become the focal point of its push into AI.
Just as Apple is aiming to do with Siri, Google has designed its Gemini assistant to be more conversational, providing it with a range of 10 different human-like voices. It’s able to handle even more tasks, especially if users are willing to give it access to email and other documents.
In another move mirroring Apple, Google is equipping the Pixel 9 lineup with a special chip enabling many AI-powered services to be handled on the device instead of remote data centers, with the aim of boosting personal privacy and security.
In on-stage demonstrations Tuesday, the Gemini assistant speaking in a voice called “Ursa” was able to come up with helpful ideas for a fun way to use invisible ink when asked to come up with creative ideas.
But the Gemini assistant also stumbled when shown a picture of a poster for singer Sabrina Carpenter, and when asked to let the questioner know when she was performing a concert in the area. After coming up blank on the first two requests, the Gemini assistant provided the requested information.
The Pixel 9 phones also will feature “Magic Editor,” AI technology capable of completely transforming pictures by quickly and seamlessly adding a person who wasn’t in the original photo, or by altering the photo’s landscape or background.
The more advanced Gemini Assistant will require a monthly subscription that will be free for one year for all buyers of the next Pixel 9 phones, which will begin shipping Aug. 22 before becoming more widely available next month.
The standard Pixel 9 will sell for $800, a $100 increase from last year, while the Pixel 9 Pro will sell for $1,000 or $1,100, depending on the size. The next generation of a foldable Pixel phone that Google introduced last year will sell for $1,800.
The event also signaled that Google intends to conduct business as usual even as its internet empire is being threatened by a judge’s recent decision declaring its dominant search engine to be an illegal monopoly.
The landmark ruling will trigger another round of court hearings to determine the measures that Google must take to create a more competitive market – a process that could result in Google being banned from engaging in some deals or, in the drastic scenario, being ordered to spin off its Android software or relinquish other key pillars bolstering the nearly $2 trillion market value of its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc.
Besides its latest phones, Google also took aim at several other popular Apple products with its next Pixel Watch and wireless earbuds.
veryGood! (56299)
Related
- Klay Thompson returns to Golden State in NBA Cup game. How to watch
- Treasure trove recovered from ancient shipwrecks 5,000 feet underwater in South China Sea
- CDC says salmonella outbreak linked to bearded dragons has spread to nine states
- Euro 2024 highlights: Germany crushes Scotland in tournament opener. See all the goals
- Halle Berry surprises crowd in iconic 2002 Elie Saab gown from her historic Oscar win
- On Father’s Day, this LGBTQ+ couple celebrates the friend who helped make their family dream reality
- Couple rescued from desert near California’s Joshua Tree National Park after running out of water
- Dog-eating crocodile that terrorized Australian town is killed and eaten by residents: Never a dull moment
- Voters in Oakland oust Mayor Sheng Thao just 2 years into her term
- Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah stir U.S. fears of wider conflict
Ranking
- Republican Gabe Evans ousts Democratic US Rep. Yadira Caraveo in Colorado
- Louisiana Chick-fil-A has summer camp that teaches children to be workers; public divided
- Does chlorine damage hair? Here’s how to protect your hair this swim season.
- $50M wrongful conviction case highlights decades of Chicago police forced confessions
- World leaders aim to shape Earth's future at COP29 climate change summit
- Pope Francis is first pope to address G7 summit, meets with Biden, world leaders
- FAA investigating Southwest flight that dropped within a few hundred feet over the ocean in Hawaii
- Judge blocks Biden’s Title IX rule in four states, dealing a blow to protections for LGBTQ+ students
Recommendation
-
Arizona Supreme Court declines emergency request to extend ballot ‘curing’ deadline
-
Don’t take all your cash with you to the beach and other tips to avoid theft during a Hawaii holiday
-
Victim identified in Southern California homicide case, 41 years after her remains were found
-
Judge rejects religious leaders’ challenge of Missouri abortion ban
-
Why have wildfires been erupting across the East Coast this fall?
-
Explosions heard as Maine police deal with armed individual
-
The Best Kid-Friendly Hotels & Resorts in the U.S. (That Are Fun for Parents, Too)
-
Independent report criticizes Cuomo’s ‘top-down’ management of New York’s COVID-19 response