During Alphabet's Q2 2021 earnings call, Google CEO Sundar Pichai spoke briefly about Android 12, long-term strategy, and the company's hardware investments, with some mention of the Pixel 6.

Android 12 will be Google's big driver in terms of personalization, AI, and privacy, and the Pixel 6 will, as expected, spearhead that initiative and showcase Google's "deep technology investments."

Of course, that would primarily refer to Google's in-house chip, codenamed Whitechapel. The hope is that this system-on-chip will allow the company to break free of Qualcomm's domination of the U.S. market. Google is said to be working with Samsung on the design and manufacturing process; the Whitechapel will give Google more control over the Pixel 6's hardware, much like Apple in the iPhone.

We've talked quite a bit about Android 12 since Google announced its radical redesign at Google I/O 2021. The new design language is called "Material You" and is meant to be tailored to user preferences.

Several Tom's Guide writers have installed the beta version on the Pixel and have had a great experience so far, even if it doesn't have all the goodness of Material You yet. While you can play with the main theming elements, other areas such as new widgets and theming for first-party apps are still absent.

Pichai emphasized that the Pixel product line remains central to Google's hardware strategy and will continue to "push the boundaries."

If Whitechapel works out, this could be really exciting. As Google improves its chip design and plays to its strengths, we could see new inroads into what AI and machine learning can do on cell phones.