Pixel & Pixel XL liveblog: Google's first phone hardware

The unthinkable is probably going to happen today, as it seems fairly certain that Google is gearing up to do what practically amounts to entering the smartphone business with a competing product.

The Pixel and Pixel XL phones, which are expected to be announced today, will be much more of a Google thing than the Nexus devices we're used to seeing come from Mountain View. Where Nexus phones were designed and marketed in close collaboration with other prominent phone makers, the Pixel and Pixel XL are said to follow in the Pixel C tablet's footsteps, which was treated like a product that is exclusively Google.

Beginning at 9 AM Pacific US time today, the company which brought you Android is going to hold a grand press conference, where it's expected to announce a series of new products, including the aforementioned Pixel smartphones, a new Chromecast media device, news surrounding the Google Home device, a project codenamed Andromeda, and possibly more.

For the full round-up of rumored product announcements, please see our What to expect article.

This is our Google Pixel and Pixel XL liveblog, where you'll be able to follow the action through timely text and image updates. Alternatively, there's always the video stream from the event that you can watch here.