Taking a Page From Apple, Google Is Working On Its Own Chips

Google is working on its own ARM-based chips to power its Pixel line of smartphones and help it better compete with Apple.

ARM licenses its processor designs to companies for use in their products. Apple’s iPhones have long had a performance advantage over similar flagship Android phones, thanks to Apple’s customized A-series line of ARM chips. Apple also has an advantage of tight integration between their hardware and software. As a result, year after year, model after model, Apple’s iPhones and iPads continue to dominate the competition when it comes to speed and performance.

According to an Axios, however, Google is preparing to follow in Apple’s footsteps with its own line of chips for Pixel and Chromebook devices. Axios reports that “the chip, code-named Whitechapel, was designed in cooperation with Samsung, whose state-of-the-art 5-nanometer technology would be used to manufacture the chips, according to a source familiar with Google’s effort.”

If the report is true, it would be a big blow to Qualcomm, Google’s current chip supplier. The move would, however, finally give Apple’s devices some real competition for the performance crown.