New York, March 4 (IANS) US tech giant Google will release a new Pixel smartphone later this year. The device, with the built-in personal Google Assistant, will directly competes with the Apple iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. "The device will remain 'premium' in its next iteration and the company is not interested in offering a low-cost version, preferring instead to let that segment be addressed by its external hardware partners," techcrunch.com quoted Rick Osterloh, Google SVP of Hardware as saying. Launched last year, Pixel is the first smartphone that works as an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator. The 5-inch smartphone is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset, 4GB of RAM and runs on Android Nougat 7.0 operating system. The device also has Pixel Imprint -- a fingerprint scanner on the back of the smartphone for quick access to all apps, texts and e-mails.