Google Project Fi Making Its Way To Samsung, OnePlus, iPhones

Even before it started making its own smartphones, it was already a cellular carrier. Well, not exactly but Project Fi allowed Google to be an MVNO, piggybacking on T-Mobile's, Sprint's, and US Cellular's networks and offer a new take on carrier plans. But despite being in business for years, Project Fi hasn't exactly outgrown its roots. That might soon be changing with a premature revelation of Project Fi's expansion to Samsung Galaxies, OnePluses, and, surprisingly, iPhones.

Save for its name, Google's MVNO plans weren't exactly a big secret considering its not so secret interest in providing Internet services. After all, Google Fiber launched just a few years prior, providing fiber broadband to homes in select cities. Given the prevalence of smartphones, it was only natural that Google would eventually do the same for mobile Internet.

In its three years of operation, Project Fi was naturally limited to smartphones Google had a direct hand in, namely the Nexus and Pixel phones. It eventually expanded it to a very limited number of OEM smartphones, like LG's G7 and V35 as well as Motorola's G6 and X4 phones. If it were a normal carrier business, you could say that Project Fi was a flop.

According to a broken embargo that has now been rescinded, Google will be supporting handset from Samsung and OnePlus. Even more, it would also support iPhones "in beta". The catch is that these additional phones are not guaranteed to get the "full Google Fi experience", whatever that means.

Considering the announcement has not yet been made official, that is anyone's guess at the moment. In addition to being billed just for data that's actually used, Project Fi's other key feature is fast network switching between T-Mobile, Sprint, and Wi-Fi. But if those won't be offered these new smartphones, it would be puzzling what the service would offer at all.