There were rumors last year that Google could rule out Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors in favor of its internal smartphone chips. The Internet advertising giant has partnered with Samsung to make a next-generation processor for Pixel smartphones. The first signs of the future processor have already started to appear and it looks like we will be able to see it inside the Pixel 6.
According to a 9To5Google, the Pixel 6 will come equipped with Google’s GS101 processor (codenamed ‘Whitechapel’). The chipset was reportedly developed in conjunction with Samsung Semiconductor’s SLSI division and is built using the South Korean company’s 5 nm LPE manufacturing process. The report states that references to Exynos were found in connection with Google’s GS101 Whitechapel processor.
A separate report from XDA Developers claims that Google’s first mobile processor has a tri-cluster CPU, a TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) and an integrated security chip codenamed ‘Dauntless’ (like the Titan M). Going by previous reports, the processor has two Cortex-A78 CPU cores, two Cortex-A76 CPU cores and four Cortex-A55 CPU cores. It could also use a ready-to-use 20-core ARM Mali GPU.
The report also states that the Google processor has some similarities to Samsung’s Exynos processor, including software components. However, Google may have removed Samsung’s standard ISP and NPU components in favor of its own designs. The Pixel 6 series is codenamed ‘Slider’ and has two devices: ‘Raven’ and ‘Oriole’. The two codenames are likely to refer to the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 XL and may become official sometime in the third quarter of 2021.
With the new processor, Google could have full control over its smartphones and software updates, similar to Apple’s. It could probably offer higher performance, deeper integration, better camera quality and long-term software update support. Google and Samsung may be working on more chipsets for Chromebooks and other smart home devices.