When Google released its first Android smartphone in 2008, the company’s founders slid onstage in roller skates. One of them, Larry Page, said the device was as advanced as a computer had been a few years before.
On Tuesday, executives left the skates behind but kept to the tone of that pitch: Google crammed all the cutting-edge technology it could into the latest Pixel phones. The devices are chock-full of artificial intelligence, to let users engage with a conversational assistant, edit people into photos and search for information found in their screenshots, the company said in blog posts.
Google is hoping the features will help the four new phones — including the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro and the double-wide Pixel 9 Fold — finally overcome consumer apathy to its smartphone ambitions. It is Google’s latest attempt to make a splash in a smartphone market dominated by its partner Samsung, as well as by Apple, which has already detailed the A.I. capabilities coming to the next generation of iPhones.
Google’s effort to make itself a significant player in consumer hardware has been an uphill climb. It has about 5 percent of the smartphone market in the United States, and generally less than that in other major markets, like Britain, Germany and India, according to Statista, which compiles data.
The company gets most of its revenue from advertising on its search engine and YouTube video platform. Last week, a federal judge ruled that Google had acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, in a decision that could upend the company’s lucrative business model. Google said it would appeal the decision and “remain focused on making products that people find helpful.”
Google has tried to use the excitement around generative A.I. chatbots and features to reset the competition. In April, Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, announced that he was merging its teams that develop Android with those that engineer Pixel devices and other hardware. The hope was that combining the two would make it easier to incorporate more A.I. into the products and speed up decision-making.
Google said that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which has two screens — one outside and a wider screen when unfolded — would bring users “the best of Google’s A.I.” The device starts at $1,799, the company said, while the rest of the lineup starts from $799 to $1,099, depending on size and specifications.
While Google’s share of the smartphone market is small, it has recently made some strides. The company’s 4.6 percent of the smartphone market in 2023 was up from 3.6 percent a year earlier, according to data from the research firm IDC.
Besides the new phones, the company showcased the Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Buds Pro 2, headphones that incorporated the company’s Tensor A1 computer chips for the first time. Google said they were designed for its A.I. and advanced audio processing, so users could have clearer calls and hear less outside noise.
The company is hoping that its latest product blitz will be helped by its A.I. It has incorporated its Gemini chatbot, formerly named Bard, into the Android operating system used by billions of people.
One service, Gemini Live, will allow phone users to have audio conversations with the chatbot and ask complex questions or learn what kinds of jobs might be suited to their skill-set and degree, the company said. It is available to those who pay to subscribe to Gemini starting today. Google said it would give phone customers a free year of its premium A.I. plan, for access to more features.
Gemini will also connect with new apps in the coming weeks, including Calendar, Tasks and more features on YouTube Music, to make it a more helpful assistant.
Google acknowledged that all these efforts would bring A.I. deeper into users’ private lives, and said that it would safeguard their data by not sharing it with other companies, and give users control over what Gemini can have access to.
“We’re infusing A.I. into everything we do,” Sameer Samat, Google’s president of the Android Ecosystem, wrote in a blog post. “In order for A.I. to be truly helpful, it should naturally fit into our everyday lives, and the best place to experience that is on your Android device.”