Qualcomm is used to having a monopoly in the world of smartphone processors in recent years but the past eighteen months have seen increased competition from the likes of the revigorated MediaTek and Exynos brands. Having powered every single one of Google’s Pixel smartphones Qualcomm has suffered the disappointment of seeing the search giant partner up with Samsung to produce its own custom processor that will power the upcoming Pixel 6 series. But Qualcomm isn’t upset about this, and most definitely did post anything on Twitter to throw any shade at Google’s decision.
Oh, wait, yes it is and yes, indeed it did. As you can see from the tweet made from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon account on Twitter, the brand decided to mock Google’s move to develop and use its own Tensor chip to power the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. Sure, Qualcomm doesn’t specify that the tween is about Google’s Tensor chip, and sure, it could be a glance in Apple’s direction, but it seems unlikely.
In terms of numbers, Qualcomm isn’t going to lose much sleep over how many Pixel 6 phones Google manages to sell, but the prestige of powering the prime example of the Android OS would appear to be at an end. Will Google succeed? Who knows, but considering the rumored pricing of the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, perhaps the cost-benefit of using the Tensor chip outweighs any potential downsides of not using a Snapdragon chipset.
