Google Reportedly “Doubling Down” on Pixel Hardware Amid Threats to Its Mobile Ad Business

You could probably expect to see more Pixel phones in the near future, with Google supposedly “doubling down” on hardware to protect itself against changes in the mobile market.

Credit: Google

According to The Information, the search engine giant is reportedly shifting focus by investing less in Assistant for cars and support for third-party hardware in general. Google Assistant VP Sissie Hsiao is also considering moving staff to work on the company’s own hardware instead of new features for its partners.

The move, however, won’t result in “reduced” support for partners such as Samsung, for example. The South Korean electronics giant is supposedly part of a shortlist of brands “for which it should develop the best Google services”. The list also includes OnePlus and Xiaomi.

Credit: Google

Google’s shift comes amid new threats to the company’s mobile ad business. The first concern is said to stem from how Samsung is losing market share to Apple in the mobile segment. Samsung’s phones are powered by Google’s Android operating system. The other concern is that the company could also lose its position as the primary search engine of Apple’s Safari browser now that U.S. antitrust authorities are looking into the secretive deal.

Then, there’s the less-than-favourable economic outlook in the tech industry as a whole. Google CEO Sundar Pichai previously said he wants to make the company “20% more efficient”, which has since led to hiring freezes and cuts in different areas.

Google now believes the best way to weather these threats and concerns is to take a gamble on its hardware. As to whether this gamble will eventually pay off though, remains to be seen.

The company’s line of phones has only seen a moderate amount of success relative to competitors like Apple and Samsung. But with this shift, Google is surely hoping to move more Pixel units and expand its hardware ecosystem further.

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• Google is reportedly "doubling down" on Pixel hardware to protect itself against changes in the mobile market.

• The search engine giant is reportedly shifting focus by investing less in Assistant for cars and support for third-party hardware in general.

• The move, however, won’t result in “reduced” support for partners such as Samsung, OnePlus and Xiaomi.

• Google’s shift comes amid new threats to the company’s mobile ad business brought about by antitrust probes on the company's search deal with Apple and Samsung's slowdown in phone sales.