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Sundar Pichai remains coy on Google hardware, talks about the cloud and YouTube
June 24, 2025
In betweenintroducing augmented realityto Android devices, its$1.1 billion acquisitionof half of HTC’s overall research and development team, and launching a wide array of products,Googlehad a busy third quarter. During today’s earnings call, Google CEO Sundar Pichai addressed some of those accomplishments, as well as where the search giant goes from here.
Starting with that acquisition, folks have wondered what Google plans to do with the 2,000 recently-acquiredHTCengineers, along with the non-exclusive license for HTC’s IP. Pichai was somewhat vague with his answer, saying that the deal “just made a lot of sense to do” and that Google is “very seriously committed” to hardware:
Pichai also said that the acquisition will further Google’s efforts in VR andGoogle Home, but it makes sense for the executive to remain coy with his answers. We likely won’t see the $1.1 billion purchase come to fruition for another generation or two of hardware, so this is worth keeping an eye on for the foreseeable future.
Pichai was a bit more specific when it came to thePixel 2andPixel 2 XL, which the CEO said benefitted from larger investments in marketing and wider availability:
That is certainly good news for a company trying to increase its hardware presence in the smartphone market, but that did not happen without a bit of controversy. Whether it wasBluetooth issueswith the original Pixels or the Pixel 2 XL’sdisplay issues, Google’s phones have had one issue or another.
Drifting a bit from hardware, Pichai also commented on Google’s cloud and YouTube businesses. As it pertains to strengthening its cloud services, Google has its efforts focused on machine learning and artificial intelligence to marry hardware and software:
Finally, from the looks of it, Google wants to position YouTube as a direct competitor to Netflix. The search giant said YouTube Red, its video subscription service, will have 40 original shows by year’s end. That is compared to the 30 original shows that Netflix plans to release in 2018.
Interestingly enough, Pichai likenedYouTube TV, Google’s TV streaming service, to Google Search, in that it is easy to find what you want with both services:
Overall, Pichai and Google had plenty to say about its efforts, which all point to an even busier fourth quarter.
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