Google looking at designing its own chips for Android smartphones

A new report suggests Google, or rather Alphabet, maybe gearing up to relaunch its Android One program in developing economies. Phone makers will also have the option of going for another vendors as far as the phone’s main processor is concerned, such as Qualcomm Inc., source have revealed.

There’s no word yet on who Google may be approaching for chip co-development. I don’t think Google has any intention of being more like Apple here, what I think they are doing is trying to improve the user experience and add new features to Android.

Google’s Android One project is the company’s way of bringing low-priced Android smartphones that feature the operating system itself in its purest form – without any customizations of services and such at the search engine giant’s expense.

If Google is looking for ways to cut the cost of Android SoCs, that could rankle manufacturing partners that believe they “know best” how to produce chips, Stofega said.

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Google’s early-stage foray into the virtual reality world, Google Cardboard, has been a success; many virtual reality headsets coming to market, such as Samsung Gear VR, also depend on Android smartphones to work. The talks reportedly took place this fall, but the report doesn’t mention which processor makers Google spoke with. To recall, the company had launched the Android One venture in 2014 as a way to sell affordable handsets running a pure version of the OS.

This time round, Google plans to relax its rules regarding hardware specs. So Google needs a specific chipset to leverage everything Android can offer because as computer scientist Alan Kay once said, as famously quoted by Steve Jobs, “If you’re serious about software, you need to make your own hardware”. If, for example, the wish list stems from Google’s desire to rein in costs, that could prove problematic for an industry already struggling with razor-thin profit margins.