Google has reportedly made significant progress in designing its own processors for its Pixel smartphones and Chromebooks.
The chips are code-named 'Whitechapel', according to Axios, which cites sources familiar with Google.
The processors have reportedly been designed in partnership with Samsung which has used its 5-nanometer technology. The Korean giant also produces Apple-designed chips for iPhones, as well as its own Exynos processors.
According to Axios, the move could help Google better compete with the likes of Apple, Samsung and Huawei. If true, the change would also be a blow to Qualcomm which currently makes the chips for the Pixel phones.
Google declined to comment on the story, but Axios reports that the company has already received a prototype of the chip, though it's believed the processors will not be ready till next year.
Google's Pixel 4 and 4 XL were both fairly snappy devices, with some power heavy features and as a result, the handsets had quite poor battery life (13hrs and 8mins on the 4 XL).
Having a chip design in-house would give the tech giant more control over speed, battery life and other capabilities. According to Axios, Whitechapel will also include hardware optimised for Google's machine learning technology and a portion of its silicon will be dedicated to improving the phone's performance and its Google Assistant software.
This isn't Google's first attempt at making its own processors. The Pixel range already has in-house designed chips for machine learning and image processing tasks, and the company also hired a number of chip specialists from rivals such as Apple and Intel in 2019.
It is also reported that the company will be designing chips for its Chromebooks, but these are not expected to arrive anytime soon.
