Google jabs at Apple's 'broken promises,' walled garden, and the 'tired' blue vs. green text bubble debate
At "Made By Google 2025," the company debuted its Pixel 10 and Pixel Watch 4. It also took several shots at Apple, with apparent references to the rival's AI delays, iPhone camera quality, and the green vs. blue text bubble debate.
The event began with a conversation between host Jimmy Fallon and Rick Osterloh, Google's SVP of platforms and devices. Fallon asked about AI for phones — and Osterloh took a quick dig at Apple in his response.
"There has been a lot of hype about this, and frankly, a lot of broken promises too, but Gemini is the real deal," Osterloh said.
At the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced the integration of Apple Intelligence, its AI suite, into Siri. Apple formally delayed the AI update in March — a rare move for the tech giant — saying it needed more time to get it right.
Google recently teased the delay in an ad for the Pixel 10. "If you buy a new phone because of a feature that's 'coming soon,' but it's been 'coming soon' for a full year, you could change your definition of 'soon' — or you could just change your phone," the ad's narrator said.
In his conversation with Osterloh, Fallon also brought up a poster showing a Reddit comment. The comment ended with, "iPhones don't take the best pics." The crowd cheered, and Osterloh laughed, saying, "We hear that a lot."
Neither Google nor Apple responded to requests for comment.
Next, Fallon spoke with Adrienne Lofton, Google's VP of marketing. Lofton referenced the idea of " walled gardens" — a frequent criticism of Apple's various controls over its iOS platform. (Apple has previously said its platform approach for iOS allows the company to ensure high quality and device security.)
"Some companies build their phones to lock you in, and force you to use their devices in only one way," Lofton said. "It seems like that way sometimes doesn't work exactly as you expect or as you need."
Loften called Android the "most open platform that's built for freedom of choice."
She later referenced a long-running feud between Google and Apple: the green and blue texting bubbles. For years, texting with an Android brought grainy photos and group chat struggles.
In 2022, Google began the #getthemessage social campaign. "Texting between iPhone and Android is broken. It's time for Apple to fix green and blue bubbles, and texting for everyone," read the campaign, which pushed for Apple to adopt a messaging protocol called RCS.
In 2024, Apple introduced RCS support. The feature stopped compressing photos and videos, and allowed for read receipts and emoji reactions that weren't spelled out — but texts were still green.
"The Green/Blue bubble battle is silly, and it's tired, and at Google, we're done with that conversation," Loften said at the announcement.
Most of Google's digs at Apple did not directly name the company. At one point, though, Loften said that the Pixel Snap "works perfectly fine with Apple MagSafe accessories."
"You said the A-word. Can we talk about Apple?" Fallon asked.
"At Pixel, we are confident in our product, and in our brand, and we love everybody in the game, so we can say anyone's name we want on this stage," Loften responded.
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