Former Google CEO and current Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt was in South Korea for a press event this week, where he was spotted taking pictures of the event using an Apple iPhone instead of a Google Android handset.
Via Osen.
Schmidt was in Seoul for Google's artificial intelligence system, DeepMind AlphaGo, which defeated one of the world's best players of Weiqi, or Go, a popular Chinese board game that has existed for 3,000 years.
In a historic matchup, Google DeepMind has defeated Go champion Lee Se-dol twice. And at a press conference for the event, Schmidt was spotted by Osen using what appears to be an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6s to snap pictures.
While some phones running Google Android look so similar to the iPhone, in both hardware and software, that they have resulted in lawsuits, the device seen being used by Schmidt is unmistakably an Apple handset. In one image, Schmidt, can be seen using Apple's Camera app, and in another he is seen selecting a photo to send, either via text message, email or otherwise. There's even a nearby iPhone user available via AirDrop.
While the sight of Schmidt using an iPhone, and not an Android device, may come as a surprise to some, it's not entirely unexpected -- Schmidt continued to use a BlackBerry well after the launch of Android, candidly admitting he preferred the handset's physical keyboard.
And Google, despite its rivalry with Apple, continues to rely heavily on Apple products to deliver its goods and services. In fact, Google paid Apple $1 billion to be the default iOS search provider in Safari back in 2014, court documents recently revealed.
Schmidt served as CEO of Google until 2011, when he stepped down and company co-founder Larry Page took over. Since then he has served as executive chairman of Alphabet, the recently formed parent company of Google.
Prior to that, Schmidt served on the Apple Board of Directors starting 2006. He was forced to resign from that post in 2009, as competition between Apple and Google heated up, particularly in the smartphone space.