Google's Hardware Push Is All About AI

Google, the company that has done more than any other to democratize mobile computing, argues that we are moving away from a mobile-first world. Indeed, at the company's wide-ranging product reveal on Tuesday in San Francisco, it rarely mentioned Android at all. Yet all the products that Google announced at its event introduced either complemented or reacted to the phone. In addition to the Pixel smartphone itself, the first Daydream VR goggles and controller are aggressively priced at 79 in part due to their reliance on Daydream-ready smartphones such as the Pixel (as opposed to PC-based systems from HTC and Oculus). And the Chromecast Ultra seeks to provide more 4K programming options for TV watchers by leveraging the phone as a content source.