Google said to arm Pixel 6 with an in-house chip, just like Apple does for iPhones

In April last year, it was reported that Google is designing its own chip called ‘Whitechapel’ that would go inside its Pixel smartphones and Chromebooks as well. Now, another report from 9to5Google mentions that the Pixel 6 will be among the first phones to come equipped with a chip based on the ‘Whitechapel’ platform. Aside from the Pixel 6, Google is reportedly going to use an in-house chip for the upcoming Pixel 5a as well that was recently leaked in all its glory.

Google is internally calling its chip ‘GS101’, where GS likely stands for Google Silicon. 9To5Google’s report also corroborates what Axios originally reported last year – Google’s ‘Whitechapel’ chip will be manufactured by Samsung’s semiconductor division. The in-house Google SoC will likely be fitted inside two phones with the codenames ‘Raven’ and ‘Oriole’ which are likely the Pixel 6 and the Pixel 5a.

Google is following  in the footsteps of Apple

Now, Google’s partner for its in-house chip ambitions – Samsung – has been at it for a  while now, equipping its phones with a wide range of in-house chips under the Exynos branding. Apple, on the other hand, relies on TSMC to make its A-series processors that go inside the iPhones and iPads. It appears that Google wants the same level of hardware-software control as Apple to milk the maximum performance out of the Pixel phones. The idea is awesome on paper. Let’s just hope Google can achieve what it is hoping for!

Nadeem Sarwar

I’ve been writing about consumer technology for over three years now, having worked with names such as NDTV and Beebom in the past. Aside from covering the latest news, I’ve reviewed my fair share of devices ranging from smartphones and laptops to smart home devices. I also have interviewed tech execs and appeared as a host in YouTube videos talking about the latest and greatest gadgets out there.