Product details

On October 4th 2016, Google had launched the first two so-called 'Google-branded smartphones', namely, Pixel and Pixel XL, at an event held in San Francisco, USA. The launch of Pixel smartphones marked the end of 'Nexus' branding under which Google had introduced a few smartphones in collaboration with some original equipment manufacturers. With this launch, Google had made a big entry into the smartphone hardware platform. Despite being manufactured by HTC, both the smartphones featured the 'G' logo and were claimed as 'Made by Google'. These two handsets were ‘conceptualized, designed, engineered and tested in-house by Google’. These Pixel phones were also considered to be the first smartphones worldwide to be loaded with Google Assistant. The Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones were primarily launched to throw direct competition to Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Moreover, with reports of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 handset catching fire and exploding at the time of charging, Google's Pixel smartphones could enjoy competitive edge over Samsung because of its Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. Against this backdrop, can Google take on Apple with all its might? What could be the challenges in this regard?