Google Introduces Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro Phones Fueled by AI
Google has recently unveiled its latest smartphones, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, with a focus on incorporating enhanced artificial intelligence (AI). These innovative devices will offer users the experience of having AI technology at their fingertips. This announcement marks another step for Google in bringing AI to the mainstream market, a goal set during the company’s developer’s conference earlier this year.
Rick Osterloh, Google’s Senior Vice President of Devices and Services, emphasized that the company’s aim is to make AI more helpful to everyone in a responsible manner. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones are designed to be conduits for AI capabilities that can enhance users’ daily lives.
As part of these AI-driven updates, Google plans to expand the capabilities of the Google Assistant by integrating it with their recently developed AI chatbot, Bard. This move comes just two weeks after connecting Bard to other popular Google services like Gmail, Maps, and YouTube.
To ensure user privacy and security, Google will allow each individual to decide whether they want their AI chatbot, Bard, to interact with other services that may contain sensitive information. Google is taking a cautious approach and addressing concerns about AI accessing personal data as it continues to learn and understand human language.
One impressive feature of the Bard-backed Google Assistant is its ability to analyze photos taken on Android-powered phones and generate captivating captions suitable for sharing on social media platforms. However, this updated version of the assistant will be initially available to a select number of users for testing before gradually being offered to a wider audience.
The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones boast a range of improvements, with a strong emphasis on enhanced camera capabilities. The Pixel 8 Pro, in particular, will offer AI-powered editing tools that enable features such as improving photo quality, zooming into specific areas of an image, replacing faces in group shots with ones from other photos, and even removing unwanted objects and people from pictures.
Google aims to justify the higher price of these new AI-infused devices by introducing these advanced AI features. In France, the starting price for the Pixel 8 is set at €799, while the Pixel 8 Pro begins at €1099. The increased prices reflect the rising costs associated with developing essential devices in our modern lives and follow a similar move by Apple, which recently raised the starting price for its top-end iPhones.
Furthermore, the Pixel 8 Pro includes a feature that allows it to measure the user’s body temperature, potentially making it an attractive option in the post-pandemic era amid the continuous evolution of COVID strains. However, Google is still awaiting regulatory approval to enable this capability in the United States. It is worth noting that Huawei’s Honor Play 4 Pro, released in 2020, also featured temperature measurement capabilities, so Google’s introduction is not entirely unprecedented.
Despite facing stiff competition from dominant players like Samsung and Apple, Google’s Pixel phones have gained traction over the past few years, capturing approximately 4% of the high-end smartphone market compared to less than 1% three years ago, according to research firm International Data Corp.
Google can afford to focus on producing phones that may not generate substantial sales due to its immense revenue from its digital advertising network. The company earns over $190 billion annually, primarily from payments made by Google to secure its search engine as the primary gateway to the internet on devices like iPhones and Samsung’s Galaxy lineup.
Currently, these agreements between Google and device manufacturers are under scrutiny in an ongoing antitrust trial in Washington. The U.S. Justice Department is striving to prove allegations that Google has utilized its market dominance to stifle competition and hinder innovation.
In summary, Google’s Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones represent the company’s commitment to integrating AI into their devices. With enhanced capabilities such as AI-powered photo editing and the integration of the Bard chatbot with Google Assistant, these smartphones aim to make AI more accessible. Although Google faces tough competition, the Pixel phones have gained a foothold in the market, gradually increasing their market share. With the rise of AI-powered smartphones, Google aims to continue pushing the boundaries and meeting the demands of its users.
