Reports on the Internet suggest that Google is in talks with microchip makers to make its own chipset for the Android operating system. To put things into perspective, Apple makes its own chipsets for the iPhone, allowing Apple to make the most of the hardware-software integration. On paper, the processor's clock speed and amount of RAM on an iPhone is lesser than the Android flagships in the market, and yet, the performance of iPhones have always been smoother, making it a great device even without out-of-the-world specifications. Finally, Google seems intent on cashing in on this concept.
As of now, there are a number of manufacturers making chipsets for Android smartphones, with the leaders being Qualcomm and MediaTek. There are more manufacturers in the market, too, like Samsung with its Exynos chipsets powering its flagship devices. When you look at the hardware and software integration here, it is indeed quite good, but is far from being perfect. Smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, LG G4, Sony Xperia Z5 and more try to make the most of the state-of-the-art hardware at their disposal, coupled with the Android OS, and overlaying it with features they’d like to add, in addition to what Android has on offer. The best example of this is that, despite Android 5.0 Lollipop not supporting fingerprint sensors natively, smartphone makers went ahead and implemented it using their own technology, or outsourcing to third party developers. Fingerprint sensors on Android debuted in 2015 with the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, while the same technology has been natively present on the iPhones since the iPhone 5s.
Another advantage that we have seen Apple exploit, was the upgrade to 64-bit on a smartphone. This happened with the iPhone 5s, and it took Android smartphone makers some time to catch up with Apple, as far as 64-bit processing was concerned.
Until now, a Nexus device has shown consumers what an Android device is capable of at the core level. OEMs have, of course, added features that they think need to be a part of the smartphone, but the core has always remained Android despite forking it with Cyanogen and the likes. It is possible that what Google has in stored for the future of the OS requires dedicated hardware-software integration. With access to an 'ideal' SoC for Android, Google can further build on it to take Android further. The concept of dedicated SoCs has the potential to define the future of flagship Android devices.
With this, the nature of feature implementations and the market of budget smartphones will be an interesting case study to follow.
Source: The Informant