Google's New Hardware

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On the heels of Amazon and Apple’s product extravaganzas, Google unveiled new hardware of its own. We’ve got the highlights:

Smart Speakers
Introducing the Home Max, with improved sound quality and, yes, it’s bigger than the original. Of course, it runs on the voice-activated Assistant platform (Google’s clever name for its home assistant).

But if you’re into something more byte-sized, check out the new Home Mini, a competitor to Amazon’s Echo Dot. Expect more product differentiation from Google as it tries to claw away at Amazon’s huge lead in the smart speaker market (75-80% market share). 

Smartphones
Following up on last year’s introduction of the OG Pixel, Google showcased the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, a beefed-up response to the iPhone X. Our favorite feature? An insane dual-pixel camera. We’re talking crystal-clear selfies.

With Google’s recent $1.1 billion acquisition of HTC’s smartphone business, it now has 2,000 gizmo gurus making sure Google doesn’t go soft(ware) in its transition to hardware.

Here’s the full suite of hardware products Google introduced at its event.