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Pixel 6 will be powered by new Google-made 'Whitechapel' chip
9to5Google can report today that Google's upcoming phones for this fall, including the presumed Pixel 6, will be among the first devices to run on the "GS101" Whitechapel chip.
[...] First rumored in early 2020, Whitechapel is an effort on Google's part to create their own systems on a chip (SoCs) to be used in Pixel phones and Chromebooks alike, similar in to how Apple uses their own chips in the iPhone and Mac. Google was said to be co-developing Whitechapel with Samsung, whose Exynos chips rival Snapdragon processors in the Android space.
Per that report, Google would be ready to launch devices with Whitechapel chips as soon as 2021. According to documentation viewed by 9to5Google, this fall's Pixel phones will indeed be powered by Google's Whitechapel platform.
[...] Putting it all together, this fall's Made by Google phones will not use chips made by Qualcomm, but will instead be built on Google's own Whitechapel hardware platform with assistance from Samsung.
Also at The Verge and XDA Developers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 04 2021, @08:28AM (3 children)
Qualcomm has been doing worse than coasting. They require a proprietary driver that is chip model specific and requires their custom patched kernel. As soon as they stop making a given chip model they stop supporting the driver and neither phone makers nor users can upgrade to newer kernels. LineageOS can't support them either for the same reason. I have two such phones and they dropped support just after the warranty expired.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 04 2021, @03:33PM
yeah, i also like the part where they "lock the bootloader" or what's called. for security. not to make it difficult to install something that can circumvent their "obsolete by design" philosophy. it's for security! your security! ... and their perpetual profit security, lulz.
there really ought to be a law, that forces smart phone manufacturers to provide a bootloader (or what it's called) unlock tool no later then the day the stop supporting THE SOFTWARE-OS on the device (no more security updates).
there is really no way to interpret this as first scaremongering (only a locked bootloader is secure) and then "look, new shiney is better and more secure. old device is a lost cause! buy new! be MEOR secure! ofc, again with a locked bootloader".
(Score: 2) by fakefuck39 on Sunday April 04 2021, @08:27PM (1 child)
>LineageOS can't support them either
what now? got any specifics here? because you can usually run the latest android on a really old phone. Nexus 6 is pretty damn old and I assume out of support by Qualcomm, but you can put the latest android on it.
a hardware vendor dropping support for something doesn't mean it magically stops working. Case and point, the latest Linux runs on a whole bunch of old CPUs that aren't supported. Windows of course doesn't, but good thing Android runs on Linux. So, in summary, I'm pretty sure you're completely full of shit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 04 2021, @10:27PM
My junk phones have Mediatek chipsets in them, not Qualcomm. Sorry for the noise.