Pixel 6 is powered by Google's new GS101 chip
Google's upcoming Pixel flagship phone - which is supposed to be called the Pixel 6 - is reported to contain the GS101 chip from Google, the first of its kind for the company.
Google is working on two phones that contain an Arm-based GS101 chip, and the chip features a tri-block setup with a Tensor processing unit for machine learning applications.
- And Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 uses Cortex-X1 / Cortex-A78 / Cortex-A55 as a 3-block CPU setup.
It is noteworthy that the idea of Google creating a security chip or a dedicated Tensor processing unit is not new, as Google previously manufactured Tensor processing units for servers and a Neural Core for the Pixel 4 phone, along with a separate Titan M chip across its current phones.
It is assumed that the specially designed GS101 chip will allow the company to integrate these features at a deeper level.
Rumors have circulated about the GS101 chip since last year when Google was looking to develop its own internal chips for use in Pixel devices and Chromebooks.
The GS101 chip is supposed to be included in the 2021 Pixel devices, the first fruits of the Whitechapel project.
The information includes references to the Slider codename associated with the new device, also connected to Samsung's Exynos chip.
Samsung's involvement on the manufacturing side makes sense, as one of the largest manufacturers of smartphone semiconductors.
Google - and nearly every other Android manufacturer except for Samsung and Huawei - does not have the advantage of internally designed chips, relying instead on Snapdragon chips.
The Google-designed GS101 chip promises to deliver increased speed, performance, and battery life for Android with a similar level of control over hardware and software design.
- However, building an Apple or Qualcomm-level smartphone processor is not easy, and while the two companies use Arm as a common base, they have spent years refining the basic building blocks using customizations to suit their needs.
Apple has been using custom designs in its processors since the design of the A6 in 2012, and Qualcomm is taking a similar approach with its modern processors.
It may take Google a few generations to fine-tune Pixel chips, but if it can actually introduce a custom chip designed for Android and Pixel devices, that might be the key to turning Pixel devices into a real powerhouse in the smartphone world.