When Google announced its intent to buy Fitbit, it took a big step toward becoming a major player in the fitness-tracking market. That acquisition has raised eyebrows among European regulators, but Google fully intends to go through with the deal. Now, thanks to a report from Korean publication ETNews, we may have an idea for what Google is planning to do in the wearable space — and it involves Samsung.
Apparently, Google has commissioned Samsung to design and fabricate a chip capable of tracking body movement. Google isn’t a stranger to using its own chips; the company uses its own Pixel Visual Core imaging co-processor and the Titan M hardware security module in Pixel smartphones. In these two cases, however, Google designed the chipsets themselves rather than handing off that duty to a third-party.
ETNews doesn’t provide details about which device this Samsung-made chip will make its debut in. But based on recent comments from Google’s Rick Osterloh, in which he teased Google and Fitbit creating “compelling devices for people around the world,” this movement tracking chip will more than likely appear in a new wearable made by Google.
Google’s acquisition still has to pass scrutiny from the EU, and a determination likely won’t be made until the end of this year. If that’s the case, we probably won’t see Google’s new chip show up in a wearable until 2021 at the earliest.
Notably, this report also mentions that Samsung obtained an order from Google to manufacture “more than one chip.” The other chip in question may be Google’s rumored “Whitechapel” mobile processor.
Featured image credits: Joe Fedewa for XDA
The post Samsung is reportedly making a custom chip for Google that tracks body movement appeared first on xda-developers.
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