When Google launched its first Pixel telephone set , we all assumed it would be the iPhone ’s biggest competitor . It did n’t quite work out that fashion . The Pixel has yet to break out among Android ’s with child selling phones and launch have been plagued with legion bugs and issues .
That might exchange with the upcoming Pixel 6 . Anew report from 9to5Googlesays that the Pixel 6 will use Google ’s first system - on - chip , codenamed “ GS101 ” Whitechapel . The Pixel would then be one of the only U.S. Android phone to ship without a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor . The report card says Google has “ assistance ” from Samsung to make the bit and it could apportion some common features . Samsung manufactured several of Apple ’s earlier A - serial publication fries before Apple shifted to TSMC .
It ’s not clear from the report whether the chip would be model after in high spirits - close C.P.U. such as theSnapdragon 888or last out closer to the mid - stove likethe Pixel 5 ’s Snapdragon 765 .
abroad phones from Samsung apply its ownExynos fleck , but Qualcomm for the most part has a monopoly on phones in the U.S. A homegrown chip from Google would be a major break and could lead to a renaissance for the Pixel , which has struggled to earn adhesive friction . Apple has been making its own smartphone chipssince the iPhone 4and it leave its French telephone a immense f number and world power efficiency advantage over Android phones .
This would n’t be Google ’s first crack at a smartphone chip . It already makes a Tensor Processing Unit for AI cloud - free-base tasks as well as a smartphone rendering called the Pixel Neural Core . It also made an ISP called Pixel Visual Core for the Pixel 2 and Pixel 3 , but those task are now handled by the PNC . The Pixel 4 also include motion - sensing made possible by the Soli Saratoga chip but was discontinued on the Pixel 5 . And all Pixel phones since the Pixel 3 admit a Titan M security measure bit for hive away biometrics and other sensitive data .
Bringing iOS to Android (and maybe PCs)
However , a system - on - chip would be an entirely different brute . More importantly , a Google chip would give the iPhone its first on-key contender that controls the “ whole stack . ” Google already makes one of the good cameras you may get in a smartphone , and recently it has begunsiphoning features from Androidto give the Pixel a stage of exclusivity . So by controlling the central processor , hardware , and OS ( like Apple ) Google could produce one of the good telephone set to endure Android . There ’s a lot more that go into it , of row , but the Pixel would instantly become the closest Android phone to an iPhone and make the competition between the two company much more contentious .
The cock-a-hoop change could be to update . As it stand , Google only promise three years of Android edition and security update , lower even than Samsung ( four years ) . And while Apple does n’t technically guarantee a length of time that you ’ll receive iOS updates when you buy an iPhone , every role model since the iPhone 4 has catch at least five years of update . With a usage chip , buying a Google phone should carry the same guarantee as an iPhone — basically that you ’ll get update as long as you own your earpiece . By controlling the guts and the OS , the Pixel speech sound should be a gilded criterion for Android telephone set updates and eliminate one of the major reasons to corrupt an iPhone .
The news report also suppose the potato chip could power some Chromebooks as well , standardized to Apple ’s M1 chip for Macs . Google ’s previous Chromebook efforts have used a mountain chain of processors from Intel — that would be another puff to the chipmaker , which hastaken to bashing the MacBookfollowing Apple ’s rip . With simpatico between chips , Google could make a standardised organisation to the Mac and iPhone , with apps that run well on both system , service that seamlessly sync , and a much simpler and more intuitive organization for sharing file between them . Chrome OS fiddle well enough with Android , but with a customs duty chip , Google could open up the system to be a true extended universe that offer a workflow you ca n’t get on Windows .
Of naturally , none of this is as round-eyed as popping a new crisp into the next Pixel phone . apart from the complexities of designing the chip , there are legion components that need to work and Android itself needs to be re - optimize for a Modern architecture . But if Google is ready to make this modification now , there could be many more to come — and its biggest mark might not be Samsung or other Android telephone - Almighty . It could be the iPhone .
