Expect Google’s Pixel Business to Grow
Expect Google’s Pixel Business to Grow with the May 10th Announcements
By Ken Dulaney
Google reacted to Microsoft’s announcement of ChatGPT support with a hasty demonstration of Bard. It failed and created huge doubt on Google’s potential to compete in the AI marketplace. Well, that was in the uneducated media. For those of us at Aragon Research, this was much more of a typical marketing misstep, an oft repeated blunder by Google on many of its product announcements.
The reality is that Google has far more assets in the area of AI than any other entity in the world. They have chips, architecture, software and most importantly, lots and lots of data on which to train AI models.
Google’s May 10 Announcements
So the announcements of May 10, demonstrated this power as Google showed how AI will be integrated into all of its products (and has been since 2015 when it first introduced it into Google Photos). Not only integrated into the products but integrated into individual activities within those products. Copilots, the integration of AI into applications, have become an adjective to every Google product with impressive results.
What’s In Store for Google’s Pixel Business
Google has been producing cellular phones for some time, but they have been a distant follower to the market leader in Android phones, Samsung. This has occurred even though new Android application features such as the impressive Magic Eraser show up on Google phones first. The Pixel phones are impressive technologically, so it has been puzzling that with great applications, great hardware at a good price, they haven’t become the market leader.
With the new Google Pixel phones announced on May 10, the Pixel 7a at $499 and the Pixel Fold at $1799 (with a free Google Pixel Watch) combined with the impressive array of Ai enabled application improvements, the tide has turned in our opinion. The Pixel 8 was not announced May 10 because Google likely didn’t want this mainstream product overshadowed by other announcements and it makes strategic sense to launch the product in the fall in preparation for holiday sales.
Yet, it will take some time to overcome Samsung’s share, partially due to brand buying inertia and the fact that enterprises have qualified Samsung for its business viability through security features such as Knox. Samsung’s One UI, base interface is better than the native user interface on the Pixel phones and that will be a small mitigating factor. That said, Pixel phones will start to take more appreciable share from Samsung in 2023 and beyond.
The Pixel Fold at $1799 with a free watch was kind of a strange announcement given Google’s track record of pricing for share gains (Samsung has mature fold models on the market). The Fold would have been better priced at $1399 but it’s likely priced due to supply and by this pricing they expect developers to buy first and that’s where it will go.
The Pixel tablet was another significant announcement. While the tablet was an expected technology improvement with the Tensor chip and a great screen, the speaker stand made the table when docked look very much like the Nest Hub Max device, probably intentional to bring the designs more in line with each other. I expect when the Pixel 8 is launched there will be a similar stand.
Bottom Line
So all in all, a great product launch for the Pixel lineup boosted by AI-improved applications with more to come.
Enterprises who support Android smartphones as part of their communications portfolio should now investigate the addition of Google Pixel devices. Googles expansion of AI capabilities of these phones offer functionality improvements along with necessary security improvements required for enterprise class reliability and data integrity.
See Ken and all of Aragon Research’s expert analysts for Transform Tour 2023!
AI Everywhere—Going ChatGPT | Thursday, June 15th @ 10 AM PT \ 1 PM ET
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Since the launch of OpenAI’s GPT service, organizations have been scrambling to put out their own copilot service. In our June Transform Tour, taking place on Thursday, June 15, 2023, we will discuss how Copilots work and how you can define a strategy to support digital labor.