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Google Hires Key Apple Chip Architect To Build Custom Chips For Pixel Phones (variety.com)
A recent hire at Google indicates big changes are coming for future versions of the Google's Pixel phone. Manu Gulati, an Apple micro-architect who worked on the company's chip development for nearly eight years, has just joined Google. From a report: Gulati started working at Apple in 2009, and was instrumental to the company's efforts to build custom chips for the iPad, the iPhone and Apple TV. Apple began using its own chips in 2010, starting with the introduction of the iPad in 2010, which was powered by the company's A4 chip. To this day, the company uses custom-designed microchips for each of their devices, which make it possible to optimize processors both for performance and energy consumption. In the industry, these integrated chips for mobile devices are also known as SoCs, or "systems on a chip." In contrast, Google relied on a chip designed and manufactured by Qualcomm when it introduced its first Pixel phones last fall. The same chip is being used by a number of other Android phone manufacturers, including HTC, LG, Lenovo and Asus -- all of which goes to say that these phones all offer very similar performance specs. Qualcomm has become the de facto-manufacturer for higher-end Android phone chips, making it harder for the companies to differentiate their devices from one another.
If working for the same company for 7 years and a bit sounds like an extraordinary achievement, then I weep for the future.
They won't be able to charge premium prices forever.
His supporters that aren't millionaires are dumb mother fuckers.
I doubt the mainstream market consumers would want to buy a Pixel phone when it only will be supported up to two years after it's initial launch. Google is taking planned obsolescence to a new level! Buy a premium pixel phone on a two year payment plan and as soon as it is paid off it is obsolete and one will need to start looking to purchase a new one with little hope of reselling their current phone for any meaningful value.
Google is a fickled company and all of their services and products have short abrupt lifespans.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be-T J
Has the performance of Apple's chips outpaced Qualcomm's so much that Google will see any major improvement from making their own custom?
Google doesn't have the numbers to justify custom chips. Samsung does. Apple does. Huawei seem to have it. But Google I highly doubt it.
Perhaps they want server chips? They already use google designed security chips and ASICs.
If you're referring to the numbers after the dollar-sign, I think they do...
You mean, like this??
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/06/12/1559241/amazon-sues-former-aws-vp-over-non-compete-deal
"Never existed". Never existed?? Your definitions of the words "never" and "myth" are not only not my definitions, your definitions cannot be found in any dictionary anywhere. Notwithstanding your lame qualification that "...there were some people...".
The ignorance of your comment is surpassed only by the corrosive effect on employment expectations your comment has.
Many, many, many companies had cultures of lifetime employment. And even when specific employees didn't stay a lifetime, they moved at their option, not that of their employer. IBM, all of the Detroit Big Three, Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, Pan American, AT&T/Bell, Kaiser Steel, Sears Roebuck, Singer Sewing Machines, Macy's, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, ... I could spend weeks thinking up examples and never get to the end.
Furthermore, those who were "day laborers moving from job to job" either yearned to get in with a better employer or had given up and simply accepted they were a permanent underclass.
More insidious is your subtext however. "There was no golden age, get over it, expectations are for losers, you're going to get screwed so bend over and learn to enjoy it!"
I'm not against progress and I'm not against a gig economy either. However we need workplace and employee protections, and that's an area where we are doing poorly.
Perhaps Google wants to free hardware developed by this guy to the Android hardware base in the same way they free Android. I.e. have him developing flagship hardware that becomes a reference design for all the Android hardware shops eventually. It isn't that far off to recognize a big point of the Nexus product line has always been to act as a reference design. Pixel can be used that way as well. Google benefits from all vendors who roll out Android-based products.
Google should have hired Apple's chief marketing or design officer, not any chief [technical role] officer. Apple products aren't wildly bought because of superior performance, but because of amazing branding and design. In many respects, Android is more capable than Apple. Another wasted effort by Google.
Fast Federal Court and I.T.C. updates
A royalty free architecture would also be desirable, and make a better base for a future Android platform as well. There is real momentum behind RISC-V, and Google is also invested.
it's not apples , the A4 is an ARM chip licensed by apple , the last CPU they actually partly owned was the powerPC chip buit in colaboration with others