[mikkom]

I think apple has actually lost the "smartphone war".

Android market share is somewhere around 85%, ios under 15%.

It doesn't matter who manufactures the hardware if you control the software and this is true especially if profit from the phone hardware manufactured by you is not really that important part of your profit stream.

[randomdata]

Android is an operating system, not a smartphone. The claim was that Google is behind in smartphones (i.e. the Pixel).

[maxerickson]

Control of the software is one of the things the article points to. Google is putting their name on phones to increase the control they have over software. The OEMS and carriers have demonstrated that they will mostly do a shit job of it.