People aren’t demanding AI features in their phones just yet, says Sheng Win Chow, an analyst at Canalys, which tracks smartphone sales. But Google is betting they soon will. The race continues and for now, Apple has a lot of catching up to do.

Of course, Google’s latest Pixel lineup is far from an existential threat to Apple’s iPhone. According to research firm Canalys, Apple’s iPhone made up 49% of US smartphone shipments in Q2. Samsung accounted for 31%, while Motorola had 12%. Google devices made up just 3% of shipments.

Google didn't need to make its own smartphone. Even though the company spent several years having other manufacturers build phones it could slap its "Nexus" branding on, selling hardware is not core to Google's business.