Google just showed up with the Pixel 11 and Gemini everywhere, and it's clearly gunning for Apple

Google just dropped the Pixel 11 lineup and quietly admitted something wild: it's now competing against one of its own biggest customers.

At the Made by Google event on 12 August, Google unveiled the Pixel 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro XL and 11 Pro Fold, plus a Pixel Watch 5 and a long overdue AirTag rival called Pixel Tag. But the real headline wasn't the hardware, it was Gemini.

Gemini Intelligence is now baked straight into the operating system rather than living in a chatbot app you forget about. It reads what you're doing across messages, calendar and maps, then just gets on with it: booking restaurant tables, ordering groceries, calling businesses on your behalf. Google's devices boss Rick Osterloh called it "a totally new way to interact with a computer" that could one day become how people use phones and laptops full stop.

Here's the twist. Weeks after this launch, Apple ships a rebuilt Siri running on Google's own Gemini models. So Google is selling phones designed to beat the iPhone at exactly the moment it's also renting Apple the engine. Osterloh insists Pixel and iPhone are "going in very different directions." Sure, Rick. Convenient timing though.

The Pixel 11 starts at 899 US dollars, and prices are climbing across the board because of a genuine memory chip shortage, RAM has jumped from 2.80 US dollars a gigabyte to 12 in a matter of months. Google isn't hiding it either, Osterloh confirmed everyone's raising prices, Google included.

Elsewhere, the Pixel Watch 5 adds Blood Pressure Trends, a monthly pattern report rather than a live reading, so don't cancel your GP. The Pixel Tag finally gives Android users their own tile style tracker, 29 US dollars solo or 100 for four, landing in November.

Whether AI actually sells phones is still up for debate. Analysts rank it around sixth or seventh on the list of reasons people upgrade. But Google clearly isn't waiting for the data to catch up.

So who wins this round of Apple versus Google. Honestly, when the "rival" is quietly powering the other side's assistant, nobody does. Go compare notes on the Pixel 11 and tell us whether Gemini or Apple Intelligence deserves the permanent spot on your home screen.