The Pixel and Pixel XL are a pair of Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google and the first smartphones to be part of the Google Pixel product line, succeeding the Nexus line of smartphones. They were officially announced on October 4, 2016 at the Made by Google event and released in the United States on October 20. On October 4, 2017, they were succeeded by the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.

The Pixels have an aluminium chassis, with a glass panel on the rear, a USB-C connector, 3.5 mm headphone jack, and a 12.3 megapixel rear-facing camera. At launch, the devices featured certain exclusive software features, including the 7.1 "Nougat" update to the Android operating system, integration with the Google Assistant intelligent personal assistant, live technical support services, and unlimited full-resolution Google Photos backup for the life of the device.

The Pixels received mixed reviews, with praise for the devices' performance and cameras, but several critics noted similarities with Apple's iPhone line in terms of hardware design, and criticized the Pixels's lack of waterproofing and high price.

Google previously co-developed flagship Android devices with original equipment manufacturers through the Nexus program, which were designed to be "reference" devices for the Android platform, but the devices retained similarities to other devices made by their respective partners. Rick Osterloh, former president of Motorola, joined Google as its senior vice president of hardware in April 2016, and Google initiated development of an ecosystem of in-house products and platforms, including the Google Home smart speaker, Google Assistant intelligent personal assistant, and Google Daydream, Google's virtual reality platform. The Pixels were announced on October 4, 2016, and serve as Google's launch devices for Android 7.1 "Nougat". The song Closer by Lemaitre Music was used in the device's introductory film.

Osterloh said in an interview with The Verge that "a lot of the innovation that we want to do now ends up requiring controlling the end-to-end user experience". The Verge wrote that the Nexus program had "fulfilled its mission", with a Google spokesperson stating that there are "no plans" to make another Nexus device. The Pixel was designed by and marketed as being a Google product. Google worked with HTC on a contract basis on development but have said that the Pixels are not based on any existing HTC device. It offered Huawei the contract to manufacture the devices, but after Google refused to dual-brand the phone with credit to the manufacturer, Huawei declined the offer.

In the United States, Pixel was exclusive to Verizon Wireless and Project Fi (now Google Fi Wireless), but also available direct-to-consumer via Google's online store or from Best Buy. In the United Kingdom, they are available direct-to-consumer via Google's online store, and through EE and Carphone Warehouse. In India, they became available for preorder from October 13 from Flipkart, Reliance Digital, and Cromā, with general store availability on October 25.

On October 4, 2017, Google announced the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones, succeeding the original Pixel devices. The Pixel and Pixel XL were removed from the Google Store and discontinued on April 11, 2018.

Pixel uses an aluminium chassis, with a glass panel on the portion of the rear housing the camera and "Pixel Imprint" fingerprint sensor.