Google launches Pixel 11 lineup with Gemini Intelligence at its core

Alphabet introduced its latest Pixel 11 series on Wednesday, placing the most advanced agentic edition of Gemini at the heart of the new handsets approximately two weeks ahead of Apple's anticipated debut of a revamped Siri built on Google's AI technology.

Google positions Gemini as a new way to interact with devices. The family comprises the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL and Pixel 11 Pro Fold. The company's marketing for the hardware places equal weight on Gemini Intelligence, a collection of artificial intelligence tools that can follow user activity on the device and execute tasks spanning multiple applications.

For instance, the system links data drawn from texts, schedules, mapping services and additional Google platforms, then proposes or performs follow-up actions including verifying availability, weighing travel alternatives or initiating a dinner booking. The firm is broadening AI functions embedded straight into the operating system instead of forcing users to launch a separate chatbot app.

Rick Osterloh describes a dramatic shift in device interaction. In an exclusive conversation with CNBC, Google's devices chief said the firm anticipates that AI will reshape the fundamental way consumers engage with smartphones. "For the last 10 to 15 years, not a lot has changed in how you use laptops and mobile phones," Osterloh said. "But we think that's about to change dramatically."

He characterized Gemini Intelligence as "a totally new way to interact with a computer," employing agentic features that let people "not only to find out information but to get things done." Osterloh added that Gemini could eventually become the primary way people use their phones, laptops and other devices.

Pixel and iPhone head in different directions. The rollout places Google in the uncommon situation of going head-to-head with a major AI client. Apple is reconstructing Siri on top of Google's Gemini models, pursuing many of the same overarching aims that Google is demonstrating with Pixel devices. When asked if the Pixel offers Google an opportunity to highlight the model ahead of its arrival on iPhones, Osterloh rejected any notion that the two implementations would feel identical.

"I think obviously Pixel and iPhone are going in very different directions," Osterloh said. "It's always been at the forefront of Pixel's product strategy to lead with new technologies, and in particular with Gemini and AI." He cited capabilities such as scam detection, Rambler voice transcription and tighter Gemini embedding throughout Android as elements that set Google's offering apart.

AI features are unique to Android and Gemini Intelligence. "All these things are unique to Android and Gemini Intelligence," he said. "So I think these are things you're going to want to get a Pixel or an Android phone to try to experience." Both firms now face the same uncertainty: whether more sophisticated AI will finally persuade shoppers to purchase replacement handsets.

Osterloh noted that AI has not yet become the leading motive for device upgrades, though he reported that the ongoing memory shortage continues to drive consumer electronics prices upward and that Google expects it will need to raise prices further.