Google rolls out Pixel 9 phones earlier than usual as AI race with Apple heats up

abcnews.go.com:

Google has unveiled its next generation of Pixel phones

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google on Tuesday unveiled its next generation of Pixel phones, providing the maker of Android software a head start on the next iPhone in the race to bring more artificial-intelligence services to devices that have become people’s constant companions.

The showcase held near Google’s Mountain View, California, headquarters took place two months earlier than when the company typically rolls out the next models in its Pixel phone line-up, which made its debut eight years ago.

Although Pixel phones still represent a sliver of worldwide smartphone sales, they are still closely watched because they serve as Google’s platform for demonstrating the latest advances in the Android operating system that powers virtually every phone not made by Apple.

And Google left little doubt that the Pixel 9 phones are meant to be a vessel for the AI technology that is expected to reshape the way people live and work, just as smartphones in general have done over the past 15 years.

“We are obsessed with the idea that AI can make life easier and more productive for people,” Rick Osterloh, a Google senior vice president who oversees the Pixel phones, said Tuesday.

That's similar to the theme Apple is accentuating as it prepares to make AI a centerpiece of the iPhone.

That moment is expect to arrive shortly after Labor Day when Apple traditionally takes the wraps off its next iPhone. The next model, the iPhone 16, is expected to be a big attraction because it will be equipped with the special chip needed to run a suite of AI features. Those features are designed to make Apple's virtual assistant Siri smarter and perform a wide variety of other tasks that the company