Google’s ‘Whitechapel’ processor is being made by Samsung and may power 2021 Pixel phones, Chromebooks

Making its own chipset for hardware products will likely bring Google at par with Apple since it also makes its own Apple A-series processors.

Making its own chipset for hardware products will likely bring Google at par with Apple since it also makes its own Apple A-series processors. (Pixabay)

A new report suggests that search giant Google, which is usually known for its Android software in the smartphone market, has made some strides in the processor front as well. The company is said to be working on its own processor with some help from Samsung. These are said to power next year's Chromebook models and company's own Pixel smartphones as well, reports Axios. Making its own chipset for hardware products will likely bring Google at par with Apple since it also makes its own Apple A-series processors.

The chipset is codenamed as 'Whitechapel' and is being designed along with Samsung, which will also provide its 'state-of-the-art' 5nm manufacturing process. This piece of information also falls in line with the recent report by Sammobile. For what's worth, Samsung also manufactures chips for iPhone, which are later designed and optimised by Apple. The South Korean tech firm also makes its own Exynos chips, which lately have been in headlines for not so good reasons.

The report goes on to add that Google received its first working versions of the chip in the recent weeks but don't expect it to arrive this year in Pixel 5 or Pixel 4a. The 'Whitechapel' processor is also said to have an 8-core ARM processor and include hardware optimised for Google's machine-learning technology. A part of the chipset will also handle the performance and 'always-on' features of Google Assistant.

Since Google has steered more towards making its own silicon chip, it might be bad news for Qualcomm that has been powering Pixel and other phones since years. On the other hand, Google might take some time in developing its chip since it also includes core processing for graphics, communications and other features. And if Google faces issue even in one of those areas, it might affect the entire chip.