Google’s Pixel chip dream faces delays and difficulties

Google has postponed its plan to launch a custom Pixel chip until 2025, at least according to a report by The Information. The delay is supposedly caused by the challenges faced by the Tensor team, which is developing the chip in-house, in terms of employees, coordination, and design. The Tensor team had to cancel several projects and license some of its features to Samsung, which makes the modified Exynos chipsets for Pixel phones. 

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Apple will reportedly use its own modem design for 2023 iPhones

Photo by Yugandhar Bonde from Pexels

Apple will reportedly use its own 5G modems in iPhones coming out in 2023. According to a report in Nikkei, the company will partner with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to make this happen. It plans to use TSMC's 4nm process node, which the company hasn't deployed in commercial products. But it is supposedly being designed and tested at 5nm before entering mass production 2023 at 4nm.

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Google snaps up key Apple chip designer

While we don’t know what Google has up its sleeve, its latest hire gives us an idea of what we could possibly expect from the tech company. Google just hired John Bruno, the founder and head of Apple’s silicon competitive analysis group, which is basically the team that helped give the iPhone and iPad processors and edge over competition. It isn’t clear yet what he’ll do for Google but his job title, as seen on LinkedIn is listed as “System Architect.” Bruno began his career at ATI and later became chief engineer at AMD, while there he led the design of Fusion processors.

Google has been taking in new talent, including veterans from Qualcomm, which makes it look like they’re looking to create more custom processors. The only chip that is currently made in-house is the Pixel 2’s Pixel Visual Core imaging chip. We can only speculate if Google is looking to create a full-fledged processor for its phones or build more specialized chips to make their products stand out more. We’re sure we’ll find out soon enough what the company is up to.

Source: Engadget

Google’s Project Ara might become cheaper with new processor

Google’s modular phone needed a processor that will play nicely with the concept. The tech giant has found something in the form of a Rockchip processor. The company is developing a system-on-chip with modular tech built-in. This will allow you to switch processors on a whim and makes the possibility of having an inexpensive handset come true. But we’d have to wait until next year when the Project Ara prototypes arrive.

Source: Engadget