Google Takes Dig At Apple At Fall 2022 Event: Thank You For Choosing To 'Follow Our Lead'

An Alphabet Inc. GOOG GOOGL executive took a subtle dig at Apple Inc AAPL during the Made by Google 2022 fall event on Thursday. 

What Happened: Google's VP of Product Management Brian Rakowski in a cheeky remark gave an all-smile thanks to Apple for choosing to "follow our lead" during the event where the Pixel 7 series smartphones and the Pixel Watch were unveiled.

Rakowski gave a monologue with three specific comments aimed at Apple for being late to the party with advanced features already introduced on Pixel devices, reported 9To5Mac. 

"We take it as a compliment when others in the industry follow our lead— like the always-on display and at-a-glance introduced with Pixel 2, putting useful info right on your lock screen," he said during the event. 

Rakowski further teased features like Night Sight and crash detection. 

See Also: Google Finally Gets Apple-Like 'Courage' To Remove Headphone Jack From New Pixel Phone

"Night Sight, launched with Pixel 3, and astrophotography, set a new bar for low-light photography on a smartphone. And we introduced car crash detection three years ago, along with other important ways to keep you safe, like safety checks and emergency sharing."

Rakowski also didn't spare Apple over its lack of rich communication services support. "RCS is the modern industry standard for messaging, and it's already been adopted by MOST of the industry. We hope every device maker GETS the message and adopts RCS, making texting better for every smartphone user," he said.

Why It's Important: This isn't the first instant of tech duopoly engaging in jibes. Earlier, Google announced several updates to its Messages app, many of which made texting a friend with an iPhone a "little nicer." Apple countered by releasing new features on its proprietary messaging app in iOS 16, like "unsending" a text that won't work if the recipient has an Android phone, reported CNET.

Read Next: Apple Vs. Google: Which One Is Winning The Augmented Reality Race