As the hours tick down to the unveiling of the Google Pixel 9 smartphone, the decision to launch in August rather than October has been described by Bloomberg as parent company Alphabet “preempting the next Apple Inc. iPhone debut and seizing attention during a typically quiet period for the industry”.

The Made by Google event kicks off at 3am Wednesday Sydney time (10am Tuesday in California), and it’s expected the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro and new Pixel 9 Fold will be among the new products unveiled.

Google Pixel 9 Fold. Image: Supplied.

“For the first time, I feel Alphabet is taking its hardware and the smartphone side pretty seriously,” said Mandeep Singh, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence.

When you trawl back through the release dates for Pixel smartphones from its inception in 2016, you’ll find none of the flagship launches were held in August. 

The Pixel and Pixel XL (2016), Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL (2017), Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL (2018), Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL (2019), Pixel 5 and Pixel 5 XL (2020), Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro (2021), Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro (2022) and Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro (2023) were all unveiled in the month of October.

Google Pixel 9 launch. Image: Supplied.

Offshoot phones – such as the Pixel Fold, Pixel 3a and Pixel 6a XL – were released in the first half of the following year.

Singh told Bloomberg that by hosting its event ahead of Apple’s iPhone 16 launch Google was “frontrunning Apple and also making a statement that we are likely way ahead of what Apple will show for iPhone 16 at least”.