Google recently signed an agreement with HTC aimed at fueling more hardware innovation and building new Google-branded smartphones. The agreement means that a team of HTC talent will join Google as part of the company’s hardware organization. According to published reports, Google will pay HTC $1.1 billion to acquire the 2,000-person team behind some of HTC’s smartphones. Here’s some more information about the new partnership and the history between Google and HTC.
Google and HTC: A history of teamwork
The new partnership between Google and HTC represents a path forward for the two companies and their hardware innovations. But it’s not the first time these two tech giants have teamed up. The team members from both Google and HTC have already worked closely together on other projects throughout the years, most recently the Pixel smartphone line. But the two companies have also worked together on several mobile industry firsts, including the HTC Dream, which was the first ever Android smartphone.
Future hardware innovations
So going forward, the two companies hope that this agreement will lead to even more innovation in terms of smartphones and other hardware products. In the short term, Google released its second generation of Made by Google products October 4. The first installment included the aforementioned Pixel smartphone line, along with Google Home, Google WiFi, Daydream View, and Chromecast Ultra.
But this latest partnership announcement has more to do with future innovations that consumers might see within the next five years to decades down the road. More specifically, some of the HTC team will join Google to become part of its recently formed hardware organization. The combined team will focus on creating new tangible products that thoughtfully integrate Google software and services including but not limited to the Google Assistant.
Through all of this, the goal remains to present the best possible user experience across all Google hardware, software, and services. By creating a dedicated hardware organization within the company allows Google to have a more focused strategy for creating hardware that allows for a more cohesive experience for users.
Photo credit: HTC
