Apple and Samsung Electronics periodically trade places dominating the smartphone market.
However, Apple recently angered many by removing the headphone jack from its latest devices, and Samsung Electronics blew a crater into the cellphone market with its latest feature, exploding batteries. These missteps by two top players may have created an opportunity just in time for the holiday shopping season, an opportunity that Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL) seems to have seized on with the perfectly timed release of the Pixel.