Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Google is following rival Apple in designing the device’s most critical component in-house: the main processor. Google’s new “Pixel 6” and “Pixel 6 Pro” phones feature a “Tensor” chip designed by several former Apple engineers.
The Pixel 6 has a 6.4-inch full-screen display with a 90Hz refresh rate, while the 6.7-inch Pixel 6 Pro has a 6.7-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The rear camera array makes up the rear “camera bar.” The Pixel 6 Pro offers wide, ultra wide, and telephoto (4x optical zoom) camera lenses. The Pixel 6 lacks the telephoto lens.
The Alphabet Inc. company said on Monday that its upcoming flagship phones, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, will include new Tensor chips when they go on sale later this year. Google had previously used Qualcomm Inc. processors in all of its Pixel phones since the first models launched in 2016. The new chip is designed to bolster artificial-intelligence technology and improve both speech recognition and the processing of photos and video.
Apple has been making chips for its iPhones since 2010, but the company sells over 100 million units per year.
Pixel sales were lackluster for their first few years, before increasing in 2019 when the company focused more attention on lower-end handsets. But that growth sputtered. In the first half of 2021, Pixel market share decreased 7% year over year, according to Counterpoint Research. OnePlus, another small phone maker, saw sales increase over 400%. Motorola, Apple, Nokia and Samsung also grew.
Google didn’t provide technical specifications for its new processor, but the company developed the component with several former Apple chip engineers on staff… The chip relies on an Arm Holdings instruction set, the same underlying technology used by most of the industry.
MacDailyNews Take: Those who can, do. Those who can’t, copy, sometimes using Apple castoffs.
