3 jabs at Apple you might have missed in Google's big phone launch
Apple's in the room whenever a tech company throws a big launch event for new hardware like phones and laptops.
Google executives didn't spend much time directly talking about Apple when it launched its new Pixel phones on Wednesday, but the search giant made several comments that were clearly references to its Silicon Valley neighbor.
In a promo video for its new Pixel 2 phone, it asked, "What if a company based on questions questioned this?"
Then it showed an image of a woman biting into an Apple.
That wasn't the only time Google executives winked at Apple, which grabs over 90% of smartphone industry profits despite Google's Android operating system powering more phones.
Later in the event, a Google executive made the point that its Pixel and Pixel XL had the same capabilities with the phrase "we don't set aside better features for the larger device," which the audience clearly took as a reference to Apple, which saves some of its more advanced camera features for the pricier Plus iPhone models.
Google directly addressed Apple once, when it said that it was easy to transfer data from an iPhone to a Pixel phone with this picture:
To top off the event, one Google executive transitioned between products by saying "one more thing," a favorite catchphrase of late Apple CEO Steve Jobs that Apple has continued to use for its product launches.
On Wednesday, Google released new smartphones, a premium laptop running ChromeOS, smart Google Home speakers, and futuristic wireless earbuds called PixelPods.
Almost everything Google announced on Wednesday, except for a small action camera called Clips, competes directly with similar Apple products.