Google Confirms It Will Make New Hardware Announcements on May 7 at I/O 2019

Alphabet, Google's parent company, on Monday reported its Q1 2019 earnings. During the earnings call, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and CFO Ruth Porat, apart from commenting on quarterly figures, also had some details to share about Google's Pixel lineup and the company's other consumer hardware bets. Apart from revealing a year-on-year decline in the sales of the Pixel smartphones, Google confirmed that new hardware will be launched on May 7 at I/O 2019. This will most likely be the Nest Hub Max and the Google Nest Hub along side the mid-range Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL. Notably, Google had already teased "something big is coming to the Pixel universe" on May 7, which is also the day the Google I/O 2019 developer conference kicks off.

During its Q1 2019 earnings call on Monday, the Google CFO said, "hardware results reflect lower Year-on-Year sales of Pixel reflecting in part heavy promotional activity industry-wide given some of the recent pressures in the premium smartphone market." While this statement doesn't provide any exact details in regard to the declining sales, the company is definitely feeling the heat of competition in the premium smartphone segment - and is clearly struggling to compete with brands like Apple and Samsung. All this ties in well with the company's rumoured new Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL smartphones, expected to be more affordable offerings in the Pixel series that will help the company compete with mid-range smartphones.

Porat confirms upcoming products on May 7 later in the call, "With respect to hardware results, while the first quarter results reflect pressures in the premium smartphone industry, we are pleased with the ongoing momentum for Assistant-enabled Home devices, particularly the Home hub and Mini devices and look forward to our May 7th management at I/O from the hardware team."

On the earnings call, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said he was optimistic in regard to the demand of the Google Home family of products that remain strong. He says, “We are still early in our hardware journey. And when I look ahead at the portfolio that we created across Pixel, Home, and Nest, I feel really good about the range of products that we have.”

As we mentioned, Google has already teased a Pixel launch on May 7, the first day of the Google I/O 2019 developer conference. Devices like the Nest Hub Max and Nest Hub are also expected.