Google thinks computers will one day cease being physical devices. "Looking to the future, the next big step will be for the very concept of the 'device' to fade away," Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai wrote Thursday in a letter to shareholders of parent Alphabet Inc. "Over time, the computer itself -- whatever its form factor -- will be an intelligent assistant helping you through your day."

Pichai sees artificial intelligence powering increasingly formless computers. "We will move from mobile first to an AI first world," he said.

Google is also a major investor in Magic Leap, a startup that has raised more than $1 billion to build an augmented-reality system that inserts 3-D moving images and other information into the surroundings people see.