Alphabet, a subsidiary of Google, unveiled Tuesday, August 13 the newest lineup of Pixel smartphones with deeper integrations of artificial intelligence in its hardware.
The reveal took place at Alphabet’s Bay View campus in Mountain View, California, breaking Google’s tradition of waiting to announce new versions of the Pixel in autumn. The rushed announcement is to keep up with rivals in adding AI features into consumer-facing products . And to beat Apple’s planned launch of a new iPhone in September.
In June, Apple announced that devices including its latest version of iPhones would get upgrades that include “Apple Intelligence”. The new name highlights the addition of AI-powered features within native applications and an integration with ChatGPT, the chatbot developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI.
New AI integrations announced on Tuesday by Alphabet include a Pixel-only feature that lets users search for information stored in screenshots. Android users can also now pull up Gemini, Google’s own chatbot, on top of another app to answer questions or generate content.
“There have been so many promises, so many coming soons, and not enough real-world helpfulness when it comes to AI, which is why today we’re getting real,” said Rick Osterloh, Google’s senior vice president of devices and services. “We’re fully in the Gemini era.”
Employees showcased several live demos of new Gemini functions, such as a voice conversation feature. Though at the event, an attempt to use Gemini to cross-reference a picture of a concert poster with the calendar app took three tries and two devices to run successfully.
Pixel 9, the base 6.3-inch display model, will retail at a starting price of $799, which is $100 more than the previous model. This and the 6.8-inch Pixel 9 Pro XL will begin shipping later in August, a company spokesperson said. The Pixel 9 Pro, which comes with added features like a better camera, and the foldable Pixel 9 Pro Fold will ship in September.
-Reuters
