Analysis firm IHS Markit argues that Google’s latest Pixel smartphone could risk antagonizing manufacturers reliant on the software and android may be the dominant smartphone operating system (OS) but “it’s not invincible.”

Pixel and Pixel XL – a smart home hub called Google Home, a virtual reality (VR) headset, Wi-Fi routers and a new version of its Chromecast streaming device were launched by Google – a subsidiary of Alphabet, as the company held a hardware event on Tuesday.

Google Assistant – the technology giant’s digital personal assistant similar to Apple’s Siri, which is also present on its Home hub, is present in the Pixel smartphone which runs Google’s Android software.

Looking to tightly knit devices and software to create a strong ecosystem, Google has gone the route of Apple by releasing its own hardware. With its previous Nexus smartphones, it used the devices to show its hardware partners the capabilities of Android and this is a shift from the strategy it employed with Nexus smartphones.

“This is the final defeat for the operating system licensing model which Microsoft pioneered, and everyone tried to copy before Apple’s iPhone success,” Ian Fogg, senior director of mobile and telecoms at IHS Markit, said in a note Tuesday.

But this is something that could be potentially troublesome as Google is more challenging its partners such as Samsung, LG, and Sony, by taking this route and is not so much taking on Apple.

“Google’s relationship with OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) like Samsung has always been complicated, but today’s (Tuesday) announcements made it even more so, especially given that Google appears to be aiming both at the premium smartphone and VR headset spaces which Samsung currently dominates when it comes to Android,” Jan Dawson, an analyst at Jackdaw Research, wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.

“Unlike Microsoft, Google made no attempt to justify its entry into first-party hardware in competition with its partners – there were no claims of merely showing OEMs the way, merely a displacement of erstwhile partners in the value chain. Google is building its own relationships with carriers and supplanting device partners,” Dawson said.

Analysts said that device makers running Android will now be looking at alternatives such as Tizen, the operating system created by Samsung and hence Google will have to play its push into hardware very carefully as over 4 in 5 smartphones globally run Android. Hence there is a lot at stake.

“Google still has many smartphone hardware partners, unlike Apple, and it continues to need them. Because if not, Samsung may ramp its fall-back Tizen OS strategy, and more significantly Google’s many China headquartered smartphone maker partners may fork Android and take their more proprietary Chinese Android variants into international markets,” Fogg said.

“Android may be dominant now, but it’s not invincible if Google makes the wrong strategic moves and undermines its ecosystem partners,” Fogg added.

Despite this it might not be a worry for Samsung and others. For users to buy the phone on contract, Google has exclusively partnered with Verizon in the U.S. It won’t be an immediate threat to other players due to the limited distribution at the start, analysts said.

“Google is still fighting an uphill battle when it comes to mainstream adoption of its hardware beyond Chromecast, and there’s little here to suggest that this will change anytime soon,” Dawson said.

(Adapted from Bloomberg)