During a trip to South Korea earlier this year, Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt was caught using an iPhone 6s to take pictures of Google’s AlphaGo AI system playing the world Go champion. At the time, this led many to wonder if Schmidt was always an iPhone user or if he just got caught red handed in a slip up. Speaking at Startup Fest in Amsterdam today, however, Schmidt admitted that he does in fact use an iPhone 6s.
Speaking during a fireside chat at Startup Fest, Schmidt explained that while he does use an iPhone 6s, he also has a Galaxy S7 and actually thinks that it is an overall better device than the iPhone. Schmidt cited the battery life of the Galaxy S7 as reasoning for it being better, but despite this, he still uses the iPhone (via CNBC).
“Samsung S7 is better. It has a better battery. And those of you who are iPhone users (know) I’m right,” Schmidt said.
The crowd at Startup Fest was also asked to raise their hands if they use an iPhone and to the shock of Schmidt, the majority of the room raised their hand. “So much for the Android monopoly in Europe,” the Google executive quipped.
Schmidt carrying both an iPhone and Galaxy S7 is a slight improvement, however. Up until late 2014, Schmidt would carry around both a Moto X and a BlackBerry, but he appears to have finally ditched the BlackBerry habit.
You can watch Schmidt’s full interview from Startup Fest below. He dives in to some details regarding the Alphabet reorganization, machine learning, and his thoughts on what was unveiled at Google I/O last week.
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