Google's Pixel Phone Positions Itself As Apple's Rival

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has been selling smartphones under its own brand for a dozen years, but its failure to break through into mainstream consciousness has been so total that its latest ads start by asking, “did you know Google makes a phone?”

Photo Insert: The Android-powered Pixel 7 and 7 Pro are joined by the Pixel Watch, running WearOS, and the Google Pixel Buds Pro to create a cohesive set of devices that work best in concert.

The company best known for its online services is trying once again with the seventh generation of its Pixel smartphones — but this time it’s making a serious ecosystem play by adding a smartwatch and “introducing a true portfolio of Pixel products for the first time,” in the words of senior vice president and hardware chief Rick Osterloh, Vlav Savov reported for Bloomberg News.

The Android-powered Pixel 7 and 7 Pro are joined by the Pixel Watch, running WearOS, and the Google Pixel Buds Pro to create a cohesive set of devices that work best in concert — much in the same fashion as Apple Inc. reinforces its iPhone’s appeal by adding AirPods and Apple Watch accessories that work best with it.

It’s the closest any company in the Android sphere has come to emulating Apple to date, including Samsung Electronics Co., which has been trying for years.

“The Watch and the Pixel offers the best Apple-like multi-device ecosystem with a pure Google services experience,” said mobile industry analyst Carolina Milanesi.

“Samsung’s Galaxy Watch and devices like the Fitbit Versa are okay, but not quite the same value add of using a Pixel phone and watch.”

Mountain View, California-based Google completed its acquisition of fitness-tracking firm Fitbit in January 2021 and that deal has fed much of the most valuable functionality of its new Pixel Watch.

It replicates almost the full Fitbit health-tracking experience — the Watch lacks temperature sensing and blood oxygen measurements — and benefits from over 20 billion nights of sleep analysis data in the Fitbit library.

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