San Francisco, Jun 15 (IANS): Google's flagship Android device has now sold over 1 million units, media reported, saying the figure was reached based on downloads of an application exclusive to the device.

While this is a milestone in the eight-month history of Pixel seen as Google's answer to the Apple iPhone, the number is overshadowed by its competition.

In comparison, Apple sold over 70 million iPhones (which included iPhone 7) in the last quarter of 2016 while Samsung is estimated to have sold 5 million units of Galaxy S8 in the first month of its release.

According to Arstechnica, Google doesn't release sales data but the installs of the device-exclusive "Pixel Launcher" app has just passed the 1 million mark.

The data includes pre-installed apps on new Pixel phones and doesn't count installs on third-party devices and so can accurately estimate the number of Pixel phones sold, the report said.

Launched last year, Pixel is the first smartphone that works as an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator.

The 5-inch smartphone is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset, 4GB of RAM and runs on Android Nougat 7.0 operating system.

The device also has Pixel Imprint -- a fingerprint scanner on the back of the smartphone for quick access to all apps, texts and e-mails.