Tech giant Google on Tuesday unveiled its new Pixel 9 smartphone series, which includes artificial intelligence (AI) technology, announcing that they would hit Taiwan shelves on Thursday next week.
The Pixel 9 series could help consumers better envision the potential of artificial intelligence, analysts said.
The phones are also expected to boost Google’s competitiveness against Apple Inc, which has teamed up with OpenAI to develop AI applications for iPhones, they said.
Photo: Reuters
The Pixel weaves users more tightly into Google’s online services, taking a page from Apple’s strategy with the iPhone and App Store.
The Pixel 9 models use Google’s Gemini AI capabilities, offering consumers an alternative to the iPhone’s Apple Intelligence AI.
The entry model Pixel 9 with a 6.3-inch Actua display, the more advanced 6.3-inch Pixel 9 Pro, and the 6.8-inch Pixel 9 Pro XL, would be available in Taiwan at starting prices of NT$26,490, NT$33,490 and NT$39,990, respectively, Google said.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold — the second generation of Google’s foldable smartphone — is scheduled to go on sale in Taiwan on Sept. 4 with a starting price of NT$56,990, the company said.
Pixels account for a tiny sliver of the global smartphone market dominated by Samsung Electronics Co and Apple, but Google said that its new line is a chance to answer what — after all the hype — AI can actually do for customers.
“I understand people’s skepticism,” Google senior vice president of devices Rick Osterloh said at the company’s campus in Mountain View, California, on Tuesday.
“There have been so many promises, so many ‘coming soons,’ and not enough real-world helpfulness when it comes to AI — which is why today we’re getting real,” Osterloh said.
However AI-infused Pixels also raise questions about how well Google is safeguarding personal data and how regulators would react to the tech giant’s push to make users even more dependent on its platform.
A US judge last week handed Google a major legal blow, ruling in a landmark antitrust case that it has maintained a monopoly with its dominant search engine.
Google said it has prioritized privacy, from protecting data used by its AI to letting users create password-protected private spaces for apps and other content.
Pixel 9 models let Gemini AI handle personal requests, sending no sensitive information off the device, it said.
A boom: The airlines saw a rise in international flights and demand for cargo services, with the latter attributed to AI needs and vendors opting to have items delivered by air China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have reported their highest-ever net profit for the first half of the year amid a boom in international travel and growing demand for cargo services. The global airline industry’s momentum from last year extended into the first six months of this year. That momentum along with an increase in the number of flights supported passenger revenue growth, the two airlines said on Friday. CAL’s net profit in the first six months of this year hit a new high of NT$7.14 billion (US$220 million), resulting in earnings per share of NT$1.08, the airline
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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: Domestic chip gear output is forecast to be higher than last year’s NT$149.7bn as strong demand for AI and HPC technologies continues The production value of Taiwan’s semiconductor equipment is likely to grow this year after falling 7.3 percent last year amid strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. The ministry made the comment last week after reporting that the production value of Taiwan-made semiconductor equipment for the first five months of this year rose by 5.5 percent from a year earlier to NT$62.7 billion (US$1.93 billion). If the forecast is correct, the production value of Taiwan’s semiconductor equipment would be higher than the NT$149.7 billion last year and stay above the NT$100 million
Malaysia is gaining more heft in the global supply chain as Infineon Technologies AG opens a major semiconductor manufacturing complex in the country, the Southeast Asian nation’s prime minister said. “We are now be able to receive and expand the technology. It shows Malaysia is now going up the ladder,” Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said yesterday at the opening ceremony of the first phase of Infineon’s 7 billion euros (US$7.7 billion) production site in the northern Malaysian district of Kulim. Anwar highlighted the need for the local governments and universities to help train the necessary talent to better accommodate Kuala Lumpur’s