Last year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai made a statement that the company is investing a huge chunk into hardware and that it had a perfect roadmap for 2021. This triggered a row of speculations as tech pundits predicted Google to be venturing into the SoC space, developing its own chips for the Pixel and Chromebooks of the future.
Now, according to recent leaks, the chip is under development and will debut on the Pixel 6 smartphone and another device, both coming later this year.
The Whitechapel chip
Codenamed Whitechapel, a 5nm process-based chip is in the works for the upcoming generation of Pixel devices; it is known internally as GS101 – Google Silicon chip. This advanced chip will have a three-cluster setup with TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) to assist machine learning for a better AI experience within modern apps.
GS101 has to be an 8-core chip, which will be powered by two A76 cores making up the bigger half of the hardware. The other half will be made up of four smaller A55 cores. For the GPU, it’s likely to use the ARM “Borr” design. Trusted sources also reveal the presence of Exynos software components which is not at all surprising.
Revealing a phone in 2021 with 5G support seems to be the norm, and Google will have to follow suit. As Google isn’t developing a modem of its own, the reliance on a third-party provider is a given yes. Whether it will be Verizon, MediaTek, or yet again Qualcomm – only time will tell which way Google plans to go. By logical estimation, the Qualcomm X60 or X65 will come into play for future-proofing Google Pixel devices.
Phones to debut with the chip
As per the reports, the chip could debut on two upcoming Pixel devices – most likely the successors of Pixel 5 and Pixel 4A 5G. You can bet your money on the Pixel 6 slated to be released sometime in October 2021 to have its guts powered by the latest Google chip.
The other device could well be the Pixel 5A, however, we hope it’s called something else. These devices are codenamed Raven and Oriole – both being built on the Slider platform which has its reference with the Samsung Exynos platform. We have learned that Google has called off plans to launch the Pixel 5A due to chip shortage. This opens up two possibilities; either Pixel 5A will come with a Google chip sometime later than expected or Pixel 6 will be the sole device where Google’s in-house processor will debut.
Advantages of in-house SoC
The biggest advantage of having an in-house chip for smartphones is to have more control over the hardware and software tuning. This offers benefits like superior battery optimization, RAM management, and precise control over the features of the chip. For instance, getting the maximum out of a lower memory and battery capacity – compared to a hardware superior device, which uses a third-party chip with limited control over the chip’s functioning.
Google’s longtime partner Qualcomm’s support timeline puts restrictions on the update cycle only for three years. This has forced Google to provide only up to three years of support while their competitor Apple provides six or even seven years of support for its devices. Google (and other OEMs too) can easily provide at least four years of support for the devices but Qualcomm’s support timeline prevents it.
The most obvious advantage of having an in-house custom SoC is the cost advantage. This will bring a device like Pixel 6 up to par with the competition when the cost performance aspect is considered. For instance, the Snapdragon 765G-powered Pixel 5 was overshadowed by the devices running on Snapdragon 865 SoC last year. Saving money on procuring the SoC from providers like Qualcomm, can be utilized for optimization in core functioning of the device for a better user experience.
No competition for A14 Bionic, Snapdragon 888
One thing to keep in mind here is that the Whitechapel processor is not purely in-house; Samsung’s System Large-scale Integration (SLSI) division will be developing the chip in conjunction with Google. The core processing components will be more or less similar to the ARM Cortex and Mali GPU. While Exynos has made huge progress in its development program, it still lags behind the prowess of the A14 Bionic chip and the Snapdragon 888 SoC.
Expecting any game-changing performance from Google’s Whitechapel chip will be asking a bit too much for starters. We can, however, expect Google to better on things and develop a chip that is going to compete against the likes of Qualcomm or Apple in the coming years. That’s if their adventurous leap goes as planned.
The bottom line
It is one thing to put hefty resources into developing a 5nm process-based chip, and completely another extracting the maximum performance out of it. It takes years of millimeter refining to get things in tune, and Google should be prepared for the long haul. They have laid the foundation of bigger things to come and patience and perseverance will be the key.
Building the smartphone processor that will be able to rub shoulders with Apple and Qualcomm will require something remarkable. Both these giants have been doing a lot over the last few years to make the chips work to their true potential. Don’t be surprised if the Whitechapel chip takes a few generations to fine-tune things for the Pixel devices, and then eventually for Chromebooks. Building a chip ground up and putting it in sync with its software will arguably give Google an extensive advantage in the coming years if it’s pulled off as planned.
