The most important takeaway from Google’s Pixel event is that it is Android that matters most, and Google’s integration with Android is worth preserving if the goal is spurring innovati…
The original Pixel was released in 2016 at the end of interesting, at least when it came to smartphones. Two years earlier Apple had finally knocked down every barrier limiting iPhone growth, releasing the large-screen iPhone 6 worldwide, including on the elusive China Mobile; Samsung, meanwhile, had consolidated the high-end of Android. Over the ensuing decade cameras have grown in both quantity and quality, buttons and bezels have given way to dynamic islands and hidden sensors, and, most annoyingly, Android and Apple have increasingly aped the other’s aggressive App Store policies; the only thing better than a monopoly is a duopoly that reaps the same profits without the regulatory pressure.