News today: Google is buying out the Pixel team from HTC for >$1 billion. I can confirm that the Pixel is a very nice piece of kit, and it makes some sense for Google to continue to offer a high-end phone with high-end specs under its own name, assuming they can do that without pissing off all the other OEMs. Of course, Microsoft is also offering its self-branded computers while simultaneously having a giant OEM community, and life marches onward.