Google Is 6 Years Behind Apple

And thanks to Google I/O 2022, we have proof…

OK, I sat down, did some maths, and I have an interesting number that I came up with. As soon as I saw the highlights of this year’s Google I/O, I immediately had a feeling of a sort of deja-vu. Then it clicked. Google and its hardware line has now effectively given up and just decided to do what Apple does. Why spend research money on finding out what people want when their biggest competitor — Apple — is providing them with that data, and has done so for many years now? It’s certainly a business model. Not one to be proud of, but copying the competitors is certainly a business model.

Especially if you’re not an Apple fan you would probably like to think, that I’m only writing this to ruffle your feathers, but I am going to disappoint you, I don’t ruffle feathers, the data does, and on that note, let’s see how I got to my magical number 6 by going through each hardware item Google announced.

• Pixel Buds Pro: Apple released their AirPods Pro in 2019–4 years ahead of Google.
• Pixel Phone: Apple released the first iPhone in 2007, Google released its Pixel phone first in 2013 — that puts Apple 7 years ahead of Google.
• Pixel Watch: Apple released their first smart-watch in 2015, that’s 8 years ahead of Google.
• Pixel Tablet: Apple introduced its iPad in 2010, resulting in Google being 13 years behind Apple in the tablet market.
• AR Glasses: while it was just a sneak-peak into something in development, we can safely assume that Apple is planning something similar for 2023, this being the only hardware device where their efforts seem to run on parallel timelines. The reason I’m discounting Google Glass, is because it never became a mass-production device, and was quickly killed off — like many things are at Google.

Doing a simple calculation of averages of (4 + 7 + 8 +13 + 0) / the 5 devices, we get 6.4. I generously rounded that down instead of up, and we get 6 years. That’s how much Google is behind Apple’s hardware. But before you start furiously jumping up and down like goatshit on a chopping board because I dared to put Google behind Apple yet again. Let’s look at what those six years really mean.

Is this a bad thing?

Looking at Google’s efforts in the smartwatch, smartphone, and tablet space beyond its own Pixel line, we can see some attempts at capturing some of the market. Unfortunately, all of it wasted time. The Nexus phones and tablets while weren’t actually that bad were really just a collaboration with third-party hardware manufacturers who were given direct access to Android’s latest vanilla builds.

Google also isn’t necessarily new to the smartwatch market, but just like with the Nexus line of third-party devices, it relied on the likes of Samsung and LG to get its Android Wear off the ground. I know, I used to own a Samsung Gear live and so did my best buddy Andrew. It wasn’t a particularly bad watch, it just wasn’t a Google watch and had no identity.

And with all this third-party nonsense going on, Google made a big mistake. Just having Android Wear out in the wild wasn’t a good business decision. Furthermore, all the learnings from the hardware manufacturers around Android itself on actual hardware, customer’s needs and trends, hardware challenges, etc stayed with the third parties. Perhaps eventually the data was shared with Google, but seemingly not soon enough for them to jump on the hardware bandwagon a lot sooner. So, while maybe not a disaster, given their size and financial power, it did allow for Apple to establish a stronger foothold in many markets, while Google was faffing about with Nexuses and MotoGs.

Do customers care?

Numbers aside, though, to be truly objective, Google’s disadvantage isn’t as acute as it may seem. While 6 years is a considerable gap in terms of technology and brand identity, the reality is the average customers care a lot less about these details than us tech nerds do.

What the average Jane and Joe will notice about the Pixel Watch is its round face, which, while nothing to write home about, will be the decisive factor for many when shopping for a smartwatch.

The Pixel Buds Pro will also be just another set of wireless earbuds that aren’t Apple’s and anyone who wants to avoid even the minimal hassles of incompatibility between an Android phone and a pair of Apple earbuds, will be a potential Google customer, especially if the integration within the Android ecosystem is tight and seamless enough.

And the tablet, while Google is laughably late to the party at this point, will likely be just another device not to give Apple the satisfaction of Google not offering their own and poke jokes at Apple in their ads.

For all intents are purposes, the only customers who really care about the 6 years gap are the nerds who like myself pick up on these little juicy details that keep us up at night, make us write articles and record videos for others to read and watch. For most of the world, all this would never even occur, and believe you me, some wouldn’t even know what brand of device they got for Christmas next year.

It’s undeniable that Google is now just copying Apple’s strategy while hoping for the best, but it’s also a largely invisible and irrelevant race to 95% of the world.

Attila Vago — Software Engineer improving the world one line of code at a time. Cool nerd since forever, writer of codes and blogs. Web accessibility advocate, Lego fan, vinyl record collector. Loves craft beer!