Google's new smartphone could be a game changer

Google has already made inroads into the hardware sector with its tablet computers and laptops

Google plans on taking a share in the smartphone industry by releasing its own handset. This move would pitch it directly against Apple, which also produces its own operating software paired with its smartphones.

The company is in talks with mobile operators about making a move into the hardware sector, as it already has a huge stake in the software division with its Android OS.



Android OS, developed by Google, is the most popular operating software with four out of every five smartphones running it around the world. These include smartphones manufactured by companies such as Samsung, LG and Huawei.

However, up until now Google has not ventured into manufacturing its own smartphones and unlike Apple, the company allows other manufacturers to use the software for free, only concentrating on its development.

The new device is reported to be launched towards the end of this year and would place Google in the same position as Apple in designing both software and hardware.



Google has a majority share in the smartphone industry with its operating software. However Apple still dominates the lucrative high-end of the market. This mainly attributes to the proliferation of android based devices, where each smartphone manufacturer uses the software differently, resulting in delayed updates.

Most of the smartphone manufacturers cover Google’s OS with their own touch interface, in essence giving an inferior rank to Google’s services. A smartphone by Google then would make sense as it secures the future of services such as Google search engine and Google Play among others from the company.

“They are concerned that Android is fragmenting, that it needs to become a more controlled platform,” said Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight. “I think they’ll seek to control it more, more like Apple.”



Google has already made inroads into the hardware sector this year with the launch of its tablet computers and laptops. The company’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, said last month that Google was “investing more effort” into phones, although he said the company would continue to support the Google-backed Nexus smartphones made by Taiwanese company HTC.

This new move from Google could add a twist to the European Union's claim that the tech giant has been using its leverage over the market to sway things in its favor. The European Commission formally charged the company, in April this year, for monopoly abuse and using the success of Android and the Google Play store to push its search engine and Chrome web browser. The commission has the authority to impose a fine of around $7.5 billion, that is, 10 per cent of the company’s total revenue.

Google declined to comment.

This is article was originally published on The Telegraph.