Google: Launch of New Pixel Phones Marks Shift to Artificial Intelligence - Hardware on Top Tech News

Ahead of the product announcements, Google CEO Sundar Pichai took to the stage to say that technology development today has reached a "seminal moment" by shifting from a mobile-first world to an AI-first world. Building on years of work and investment in machine learning, he added, Google is marking that shift by bringing its intelligent Google Assistant to both the new Pixel phones and the new smart Google Home device. Designed and built by Google, the Pixel smartphones -- available for pre-ordering beginning today at a base price of 649 -- will also be the first phones to have built-in support for the company's new Daydream virtual-reality system. The 129 Google Home can also be pre-ordered starting today and are set to begin shipping on Nov. 4. "We're at a seminal moment in computing," Pichai said at the start of today's even.