The 2nd-gen Pixel phones are the first phones to feature a Google custom-made chip. The Pixel Visual Core chip not only improves the camera experience but it also compiles HDR+ images at a faster speed while consuming less energy than the main application processor. The Pixel Visual Core chip is just the beginning for Google.

Google is in a race with Apple and to win that race, it needs to do things a little more differently. Apple is able to integrate its software seamlessly with the hardware in its devices because they (devices) use its own custom chips. Google wants the same with its devices and third party chips won’t give it that flexibility. Its plan is to make more of its own custom chips.

The advantages that come with making your own chips are a lot but only if you have the money to invest in research and development, which clearly Apple and Google have.

What does this mean for suppliers like Qualcomm? It is surely a loss for them when a manufacturer decides to make its own chips. Imagination Technologies – makers of PowerVR GPU chips, and long-time Apple supplier, suffered hits on their stock value when the Cupertino-based company cut ties with them.

The switch to a Google SoC will not be instantaneous. While it is confirmed that we will see more Google custom chips with dedicated functions in the next generation of Google devices released in the next few years, Qualcomm may still supply the main SoC for a while.

READ MORE: Google Fuchsia OS Shown Running on Pixelbook

Earlier today, Google finalized its over $1 billion partial acquisition of HTC which will see 2000 hardware engineers transferred to Google and also grant the company access to HTC’s intellectual property. These engineers will help Google further develop its hardware department which handles the development and design of the Pixel devices.

(Source)

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MediaTek Inc., a fabless semiconductor company (based in Hsinchu, China), which provides System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions for various devices such as smartphones, tablets, GPS units, Bluetooth devices, Wi-Fi Routers, digital TVs, set-top boxes, and optical drives, among others, has made plans to commence mass production (in the third quarter of 2014, industry sources claim) of its highly-anticipated Aster all-in-one solution.

The Aster, which sources describe as an “all-in-one” SoC which is touted to be very competitive in the market for wearable devices and IoT (Internet of Things) applications, is available as a “platform solution” that incorporates not just reference designs, but also microchips as well as software and firmware.

Designed to be compatible with MediaTek’s tablet and smartphone solutions, the Aster also incorporates, among other things, a Bluetooth chip, memory chip, a MicroControler Unit (MCU), a touchscreen controller IC, and the requisite Input/Output (I/O) interfaces.

At this point, the company is said to be coordinating with several of its top clients in China on issues related to product development, with an anticipated wide range of Aster-powered new products expected to make their way to retail stores by the latter part of the second half of 2014.

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