Google is planning to pour more funds into its hardware development team in Taiwan to seek a bigger market share for its line of Pixel smartphones in the competitive global market.
In a recent interview with the Central News Agency, Google vice president of hardware Elmer Peng (彭昱鈞) said that although Pixel models account for only a small fraction of the global smartphone market, Google is determined to strengthen its handset operations in Taiwan to roll out better products to attract more consumers.
In 2018, Google spent US$1.1 billion to acquire HTC Corp’s (宏達電) cellphone original design manufacturing assets, which had rolled out the Pixel line for the US client.
Photo courtesy of Google
HTC also transferred 2,000 engineers to work for the US tech giant and as a result, the team has continued to work on the Pixel for Google.
Peng, who was one of the engineers transferred to work for Google, used to be a vice president at HTC, responsible for developing a wide range of technologies such as audio and image applications.
At Google, he shoulders the responsibility of Pixel development.
The Pixel models represent Google’s own interpretation of an Android phone, which is able to integrate all of the services Google can provide, Peng said.
While the Taiwanese team is in charge of developing the Pixel, Google is a multinational company and the Pixel’s development requires more cooperation with Google’s US headquarters, as well as effective and efficient international coordination with its suppliers and many others to make a better smartphone, he said.
“I am sure that Google will continue to invest in the Taiwan hardware team as talents in the team are always able to come up with good and precise product ideas, and carry out their business plans well,” Peng said.
Google has set sights on grasping a larger share in the global smartphone market by improving its Pixel line, he said.
“Although the global smartphone market has been saturated, I believe as long as Pixel is able to appeal to as many consumers as possible, Google will achieve the goal of selling more smartphones,” he added.
Citing the newly unveiled 5.81-inch Pixel 4a as an example, Peng said that the model, taking advantage of a special design in its casing weighs only 143g, which allows users to hold and use the device more easily.
Google is planning to launch its first 5G smartphone models — the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 — later this year.
Peng said the Google phones would work well under the current 5G era.
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