Google set to challenge Apple's iPhone 8 & X with Oct. 4 announcement of 'Pixel 2'

AppleInsider

Google is preparing an Oct. 4 announcement, when the company is widely expected to reveal a second-generation Pixel phone that will go toe-to-toe with Apple's iPhone 8, and later the iPhone X.

A glimpse at what Google's hardware may look like. Image Credit: TechCrunch

A new webpage offers only the date and an option to sign up for email notifications, but related marketing material suggests the event is for anyone "thinking about changing phones," according to TechCrunch. Earlier this week, Google in fact raised a billboard in Boston with the Oct. 4 date, urging people to ask "more of your phone."

The "Pixel 2" is rumored to have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 4 gigabytes of RAM, and IP68 waterproofing, the last a notch better than the IP67 supported on the iPhone 8 and X. It may also have an always-on display like Samsung's Galaxy Note 8, and pressure-sensitive sides, enabling squeeze controls like the HTC U11.

The product should ship in both standard and XL versions, as with the original Pixel. The new XL may be the closest competitor to the iPhone X, as it's expected to have a 6-inch display with extremely narrow bezels. The X sports an edge-to-edge, 5.8-inch OLED screen.

The Pixel has captured just a tiny share of the global smartphone market so far, but has proven popular with reviewers, and represents Google's first step into self-designed phones. Earlier Nexus-series phones were Google-branded and ran pure Android, but were designed by companies like LG and Samsung.

red oak

Yet another HTC built, Google branded me-too product 

How did the Pixel 1 work out for them? 

jbdragon

red oak said:

Yet another HTC built, Google branded me-too product 

How did the Pixel 1 work out for them? 

Google sold less then 2 Million of them in a year. Maybe 1-1/2 million. That's pretty bad. I don't don't get the whole squeeze thing. Seems dumb to me.

wood1208

Last time, When Pixel was available, Google was lucky because of Samsung Note fiasco and there were not credible android phones on par with Pixel. Now LG, Samsung,Xiomi,etc has phones on market and Google have to do out-of-box features(which I doubt) to reduce the loss/cost of Pixel investment..

eightzero

Competition is good.

I'm not sure this qualifies.

bdkennedy1002

This is on par with Microsoft's Zune against Apple's iPod.

jkichline

Challenge? I looked up the benchmarks on the Snapdragon 835 and it's pretty bad compared to the A11 Bionic

Snapdragon 835: 2059/6461
A10 Fusion: 3924/9371
A11 Bionic: 4274/10438

Good luck with that one, Google.

edited September 2017

flyingdp

sog35 said:

Google 'Challange' iPhone? LOL.

And don't trust the IP68 waterproof rating. Remember Samsung had this same rating and those phones got waterlogged at lower depths than an iPhone with a lower rating.

Very true: definition of ip68 is "The equipment is suitable for continuous immersion in water under conditions which shall be specified by the manufacturer" (emphasis added) so that means their water resistance could be anything and not necessarily better than iPhone's ip67.

gatorguy

flyingdp said:

sog35 said:

Google 'Challange' iPhone? LOL.

And don't trust the IP68 waterproof rating. Remember Samsung had this same rating and those phones got waterlogged at lower depths than an iPhone with a lower rating.

Very true: definition of ip68 is "The equipment is suitable for continuous immersion in water under conditions which shall be specified by the manufacturer" (emphasis added) so that means their water resistance could be anything and not necessarily better than iPhone's ip67.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/01/13/apples-iphone-8-to-gain-tougher-ip68-water-and-dust-resistance---report

boltsfan17

The only phone the Pixel 2 will challenge is the Amazon Fire phone. 

gatorguy

boltsfan17 said:

The only phone the Pixel 2 will challenge is the Amazon Fire phone. 

I know that was meant as a joke but you're probably not far off

edited September 2017

anantksundaram

Go "toe-to-toe"?

Give me a break. Actually, thanks for the laugh.

beowulfschmidt

Can I say "good luck with that" without sounding too much like a fanboy?

No?  So be it.

edited September 2017

macxpress

Sorry, but Google's phone has never even come close to "challenging" the iPhone. In the end...its still just another Android phone. 

radarthekat

Toe-to-toe maybe, but not face-to-face.  

The reviewers arent dou g Google any favors by going easy on them in reviews.  They give a false impression that these Pixel phones are somehow on par with the contemporaneous iPhone, often based upon meaningless specs and screen dimensions (a couple extra millimeters).  Rather than coddled, Google should be urged to step up their game.  Ah, but consumers provide that motivation, don't we, as we purchase exponentially larger numbers of iPhones each quarter.  

cali

Why are we giving this iPhone knockoff press?

seriously let's stop with iKnockoff news. The more we ignore them the more idiots will come to grips with reality. Android phones are cheap knockoff alternatives to iPhone, NOT iPHONES!!!!

Headlines like "Google Pixel will challenge iPhone", "Galaxy X a great contender to iPhone" etc. give the impression that these knockoff devices are real.

JUST IGNORE THEM. We never gave those cheap iPod knockoffs press so why are we doing it now???

brucemc

Pixel provides some small competition to Samsung, and will perhaps be some real competition for Essential Phone (since both a premium priced, niche Android audience).  It provides almost zero (perhaps a Ballmer rounding error) to iPhone.

Will be interesting to see if Google increases shipments much YoY.  Competition in that high end Android space is higher than last year.

Will Goog stick it out for another year if the numbers are similarly low?

jungmark

Challenge? Haha. Sammy is challenging Apple. Google is just a bit player on its own team. 

steve constance

I hope Google succeeds Big as it will only hurt Scamscum not Apple.

mubaili

yea, truly hope Google can do way better than Pixel. Competition is good for Apple and good for consumer.

maestro64

Not sure why people keep thinking that Google designs hardware. At best they take reference designs from chip and component manufacturers and just put all the pieces together. However, they mostly put design specs based on those reference designs and turn them over to HTC or some other Cam and let them do all the work. 

It not like they are designing the chips like Apple, or custom deign parts and work with the actual manufacturers to improve the design so it works better than the standard product everyone can get.