Google wants Android 17 to excite the rich. What about the rest of us?

Google seems to think I’m a much richer and sexier man than I actually am. Thanks, I suppose? That’s the impression I got from the company during its Android Show 2026. Google showed off a variety of new Android 17 features that all seem decidedly aimed at people with the same bank balance as its own CEO.

This really got me thinking: what about the rest of us?

The Android Show is Google’s 30-minute pre-recorded show before its big I/O keynote, in which it previews upcoming Android features. This time, the big news was deeper integration with Gemini AI tools, a better Android Auto interface, and a build-your-own widget creator, including tracking your upcoming flights.

The common theme in all of these things is money. Lots of money. The money you already have and the money you are willing to spend.

The Android Auto demo showed how well it scales with BMW’s larger screens and how YouTube will play at 60 frames per second on your infotainment system’s compatible screen. We even got a tragic appearance from Paris Hilton in her luxury Genesis, explaining how the car can transform into her own private movie theater.

I currently drive a 2007 Toyota Auris with 110,000 miles on the clock, a broken CD player, no USB input, and covered in so much bird poop that I sometimes forget the original color. I make it “smart” by placing my iPhone in a holder that clips onto the heating vents. My version of in-car Dolby Atmos audio is a portable Bluetooth speaker that I charge and place in the passenger seat because there’s no way to connect my phone to the car.

Later in the Auto demo, we were shown Gemini being used to explain whether a new 65-inch TV would fit in the back of a Volvo EX60. I have to be fair to Google here: I also recently purchased a 65-inch TV. But not having a $65,000 (or more) Volvo to pick it up with, I simply had to call a friend who owned a van.

Then there were numerous examples of using Gemini’s new agentic AI tools to book “ground” concert tickets, which alone can cost hundreds of dollars, depending on the artist — or even up to four figures if you went to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour.

Don’t like concerts? Google offers you some “relevant” travel options: coffee and chocolate tours in Costa Rica. And no, not just for you, but for a group of six people, so you can go with five of your richest friends. And if that doesn’t appeal to you, Google’s other idea is a vintage shopping trip to Tokyo.

In fact, all of the examples Google gave involved parting with vast sums of money in one way or another, from booking flights and restaurants to buying clothes and concert tickets. It’s no surprise, I suppose. Google is basically a search engine that directs you to things you can spend money on. This is what Circle to Search has become over the last two years.

But today’s Android Show appears to be an even bigger tribute than usual to rampant capitalism. I couldn’t help but think he had lost track of his audience.

Purse strings are tightening around the world, and more and more of us are struggling to afford even the basics, let alone shopping trips to Tokyo or coffee runs in Costa Rica. We don’t all drive luxury Genesis cars thanks to our Hilton fortune, nor do we all have over $100,000 worth of bitcoin in our crypto wallets, like Google’s Alexander Kuscher appeared to have during his Googlebook demo. Good for him. But while so many of us are having sleepless nights over the fear of paying big bills, this kind of tone-deaf display of bragging left an extremely sour taste in my mouth.

It wasn’t just the financial aspect that upset me. During a demonstration, Gemini was asked to reserve “front row seats” for a spinning class. First row?! How about “find me a seat in the dark, back corner so no one sees my deeply purple and sweaty face as I pathetically try to pedal my way out of an early grave”?

What bothered me is that Google seems to assume I’m in good shape. That I’m probably sexy. Or at least, fit and sexy enough that I want to be in front of the class, wiggling my tight, Lycra-clad butt for everyone to get inspired by. It’s the kind of fitness that requires a lot more free time in the day — and/or money — than the average worker has.

It’s a lifestyle that fits Google’s vision of the average Android user: We meet all of our friends for a fancy brunch, and along the way we plan to meet another friend for a fancy dinner while using Android Auto in our luxury car. It’s not clear, in Google’s ideal world, when you’re supposed to find time to go to work or pick up the kids.

What is clear is that Google assumes great wealth in its audience. I get it: Google is trying to be ambitious. Except that’s not the case, not really.

The whole point of these demos is how much easier it is to do things you suppose you already do. It’s not about saying, “Hey, if you use Android, maybe you can go shopping in Tokyo.” It says: “You are certainly Google already does all of this, and these tools will just help you do it faster. » Google suggests that this rich, sexy, worldly lifestyle is one you already have and is targeting its new features directly at you. His attitude is completely wrong and risks alienating the 99% of people who cannot afford the lifestyle he promotes.

Google’s new features speak directly to the 1% who find Paris Hilton’s glittery car depressing and asking for a relevant lifestyle choice rather than what it is: a complete misunderstanding of how real people live their lives.

editor-in-chief; Senior Photographer, Europe

When he’s not testing the latest phones or phone cameras, Andrew can normally be found with his own camera in hand or behind his battery pack or eating his stash of home-cooked meals – sometimes at the same time. See full bio