So far Google has relied on outside help for its Nexus and Pixel phones, where they typically outsource the creation of the handsets and components to various companies like Samsung, HTC, Huawei, LG, and so on, who in turn rely on hardware components from other manufacturers like Qualcomm.
However it seems that Google has an interest in trying to maintain some control over its future devices, like the chipsets. In a report from The Information (paywall; via 9to5Mac), it seems that Google has recently hired another one of Apple’s chip engineers. The report claims that the company’s latest hire is John Bruno who worked at Apple as one of the company’s chip engineers and was responsible for the silicon competitive analysis group, which is basically a group that helps Apple ensure that they are able to stay ahead of the competition.
This is something that Apple has admittedly been capable of doing as based on the benchmarks we’ve been seeing, the benchmarks for Apple’s iPhones are above and beyond that of the competition. In fact to a certain extent in terms of benchmark scores, the latest A11 Bionic chipset is on par with the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
The report also adds that Wonjae (Gregory) Choi and Tayo Fadelu, both of whom worked at Apple, are now working for Google. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Google hire engineers away from Apple. Earlier this year Google had also hired Manu Gulati, another Apple engineer who was said to be one of the key architects responsible for Apple’s A-series of chipsets.
Google has yet to debut their own chipset so it is possible that they are still working on it. Whether or not this will materialize into a component they use for future Pixel handsets remains to be seen.