Pixel 6 will be powered by Google’s Whitechapel SoC

Reports hint towards Google co-developing Whitechapel with Samsung and the chipset arriving in phones as soon as in 2021.

FILE PHOTO: The Google name is displayed outside the company's office in London, Britain, November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo (REUTERS)

Google's next-generation Pixel 6 smartphone has been in the news for quite some time. Reports in the past have detailed various features that are likely to be available in Google's upcoming smartphone. However, none of them have talked about the chipset that will power the Pixel 5 successor so far. But now, a new report sheds some light in this regard.

As per a report by 9to5Google, Pixel 6 series smartphones will be among the first devices to run on the company's GS101 Whitechapel system-on-chip (SoC).

We first heard about Google's efforts of developing Whitechapel back in 2020. At the time, reports had said Whitechapel was a part of the company's efforts to create its own SoC for Pixel smartphones and Chromebooks much like Apple's chipsets used in iPhones, iPads and Mac computers. At the time reports also hinted towards Google co-developing Whitechapel with Samsung and the chipset arriving in phones as soon as 2021.

Now, new documentation shows that Google's fall lineup of smartphones will indeed be powered by the company's Whitechapel SoC. The document also shows Whitechapel is internally referred to as GS101 with GS being short for ‘Google Silicon.' The report says that it seems that Whitechapel is being co-developed with Samsung Semiconductor's system large-scale integration (SLSI) division. This means Whitechapel is likely to have similarities with Samsung Exynos SoC.

With Whitechapel in the picture, it is possible that Google will ditch Qualcomm chipsets in its premium chipsets. That said, these details should be taken with a pinch of salt as Google hasn't confirmed anything yet.