Google to acquire HTC’s Pixel smartphone division in $1.1 billion deal

Google is biting off a big piece of device manufacturer HTC for $1.1 billion to expand its efforts to build phones, speakers and other gadgets equipped with its arsenal of digital services.
The company is buying the HTC team that built the Pixel smartphone for Google in a cash deal, they said in a joint statement Thursday. Google is also getting a non-exclusive license for Taiwan-based HTC’s intellectual property to help support Pixel phones.

The deal announced Thursday underscores how serious Google is becoming about designing its own family of devices to compete against Apple and Amazon in a high-stakes battle to become the technological hub of people’s lives.

“For Google, this agreement further reinforces its commitment to smartphones and overall investment in its emerging hardware business,” the statement said.