Google Pixel — A Phone Made by Google, Inside and Out

Google Pixel is Google's own-brand line of smartphones. The first Pixel and Pixel XL were announced on 4 October 2016, with pre-orders opening the same day in the US, UK, Canada, Germany and Australia, from $649. Japan was not among the launch countries; the first Pixel sold there was the Pixel 3, released on 1 November 2018.

The first Pixel

Google called Pixel "the first phone made by Google inside and out" and the first phone with the Google Assistant built in. Both are Google's own framing.

Camera and body

Google wrote that Pixel's camera was not only the best it had made but "the highest rated smartphone camera anyone has ever made," citing the DxOMark score, with an asterisk marking the claim as accurate at the time of publication. It presented the score as an example of what is possible when great hardware meets great software.

From Nexus to Pixel

Google had sold phones under its own name before. The Nexus One, announced on 5 January 2010, was manufactured by HTC and sold through a new Google-hosted web store, with a 3.7-inch OLED display and Android 2.1. Google described it as the first in a series of products it would bring to market with operator and hardware partners.

Nexus, in other words, was built by partners and sold by Google. With Pixel, Google moved to presenting the phone as its own. It still had help. On 21 September 2017 Google announced an agreement with HTC under which part of HTC's team joined Google's hardware organisation and Google received a non-exclusive licence for HTC intellectual property. In that announcement Google noted that HTC had helped build the first Pixel the year before.

Japan from the Pixel 3

Docomo described the Pixel 3 as appearing in Japan for the first time, and SoftBank used the same phrase in its announcement. The first Pixel and the Pixel 2 were never sold in Japan, so the Pixel story there starts with the third generation.

Tensor: Google's own chip

On 2 August 2021 Google previewed Google Tensor for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, describing it as "our first custom-built SoC specifically for Pixel phones." The Pixel 6, announced on 19 October, started at $599 and the Pixel 6 Pro at $899, reaching US shelves on 28 October. The announcement called Tensor "Google's first-ever processor."

Looking back in 2025, Google called the Pixel 6 generation a turning point and described Tensor as a bespoke processor built to run powerful AI features on the device.

Where it sits

Pixel is the line through which Google, having handed Android to every phone maker, went from selling partner-built Nexus phones to building its own-brand phone and then to designing its own chip. It brought the Android side closer to the way the iPhone is put together, with the operating system, the chip and the handset under one company. For the wider story of handheld devices see the mobile timeline; for the company, Google.