Variants are used in the Mac and other Apple products.
Meanwhile, the rest of the industry relies on Qualcomms SnapDragon chips.
Googles next Pixel phone will use the Google-designed GS101 “Whitechapel” system on a chip (SoC).
Daniel Romero / Unsplash
But will Googleinfamously fickle with its productsbe able to stay the course?
“The subsequent pixel phone could utilize a Google-made chip.
Why Bother, Google?
Lifewire / Andrew Hayward
There are two reasons that Apple Silicon is so far ahead of the rest of the industry.
One is that the chips are just plain good.
The other is that Apple can design the hardware and software to work together.
Does the camera app need to make trillions of calculations per second to do its AI magic?
Just build that directly into the chip.
Want all-day battery life in a laptop thats as powerful as a Mac Pro?
Lifewire / Andrew Hayward
Other phone makers all have to make do with what Qualcomm sells them.
It will also allow Google to sit above the commoditized market of SnapDragon phones.
According to news site 9to5Google, the first of these GS101 phones will ship this fall.
Its also possible that Google will continue to use SnapDragon chips in other phones.
But Google doesnt have the sticking power of Apple.
Google has never seemed particularly driven to make the Pixel a success.
Google Silicon might turn the Pixel into the biggest contender of the iPhone.
Remember, Google already controls the Android operating system.
Adding custom silicon signals that Google is taking the phone business seriously.
In part, its just good sense to have control of your own destiny.
The Pixel will no longer be just another Android phone.
Google must also have its eye on the Chromebook, which also runs on Snapdragon processors.
Googles core ad business is being squeezed by Apples increasingly secure privacy revisions.
Thats an uncomfortable situation.
Whos Next?
Google, Apple… Will anyone else start designing their own chips?
However, it will still take a lot of time for other companies to adopt this practice.”
And there may be another twist.
Whos to say that Google wont license its chip designs to other Android phone makers?
That would certainly be one way to terminate the gap between iOS and Android and ensure Googles privacy-free future.
