The first android designs were more like Blackberry's than an iPhone[1]. The designs ended up being publicized during the Oracle trial. You can clearly see that they were no where near what Apple was doing with the iPhone. After Apple released the iPhone Google decided to not even release that version and decided to re-do the phone[2]. They believed that a touch screen can't completely replace physical buttons[3]. I'm always surprised how reluctant people are to give credit to Apple for completely changing the smartphone industry.
1. https://www.theverge.com/2012/4/25/2974676/this-was-the-orig... 2. https://www.pcworld.com/article/254539/original_android_prot... 3. https://www.theverge.com/2012/4/25/2974843/google-in-2007-a-...