Something interesting is brewing up within Google confines. Google wants to develop processors for Android. Google had been sitting down with several vendors showing off their proposed design but no decision yet was made on who would take the invitation.
According to Chris Chavez of Phandroid, Google was hoping to be directly involved in the chip making process just like Apple did. Apple designed their Ax chips used in iPhone and iPad, respectively.
He added that Google might not be too far in realizing this since their aim is to build chips around Android and guaranteeing them to be compatible with their future releases of hardware.
In similar news, Google intents show that the reason behind their plans to develop Android processors is to standardize the overall Android OS functionality and usability.
In a report given by Amir Efrati, he said that Google wants more sophisticated camera processing, faster photo capture, and the ability to constantly record the environment sending these images and videos to Google for cloud-based analysis, Daniel Eran Dilger of Apple Insider writes.
Dilger also noted Efrati stating that Google might end up struggling since profit margins of Android handset brands are already severely pressured and it can be a tough sell when the less powerful chips are good enough.
Dilger likewise cited Google attempts to persuade chipmakers to use designs put forward by the company. This, too, will place pressure on Google since top vendors like Qualcomm and Mediatek, for instance, already have their own technology. They will not depend on Google to manufacture a product that might end up similar to what is being produced by other Google partners.
Google, in any of its attempts to control chip manufacturers in designing processors, might only aggravate their current anti-trust investigations both in the US and in Europe, Dilger ended.
And finishing off the report on Google plans to develop their own processor, the company blames Qualcomm for “screwing up” the former’s objective in pushing Android devices into the new worlds of virtual and augmented reality.
Sascha Segan of PC Mag reported that Qualcomm’s lineup for this year was dismal after Apple came out with faster and better 64-bit processors. Sascha also mentioned Nvidia being wooed by Google to handle the GPU of their new handsets but this didn’t help either. The Nexus 9 tablet sporting Nvidia K1 processor did not even inch itself against the latest Apple iPhone and iPad, respectively.
Sascha likewise stated that Google considered Intel Atom processors but were sub-Qualcomm GPU performance and did not fit well with Google standards.
Google wanting to develop its own processor for Android comes as a surprise to the industry. With many competitors in mobile chip processing queuing up for various Android phones and tablets, Google might just want to back off for the meantime.
Google can cash in with their plans, however, if big industry players like Qualcomm and Intel fail to meet Google demands for virtual and augmented reality implementation. And if this happens, then Google may eventually win over these GPU chipset giants.
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