Google is merging its Android OS (Operating System) and product hardware teams. The “super-team” will collaborate and develop AI (artificial intelligence) across almost all product categories, including smartphones, TVs, watches, and more.
Google merges Android and hardware into ‘Platforms and Devices’
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced a major restructuring at Google. The most notable change would undoubtedly be the merging of Android as a platform and hardware as a product.
The new team, called “Platforms and Devices,” would oversee all of Google’s Pixel products, all Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, Photos, etc.
Rick Osterloh, who previously served as senior vice president of devices and services, will lead this super-team. He ran Google’s hardware, including Pixel smartphones.
$GOOG is doing it
“Google is combining its Android and hardware teams – and it’s all about AI” / “Under the leadership of Rick Osterloh, a new platforms and devices team will be dedicated to bringing AI to your phone, your TV and anything running Android.” https://t.co/DaqD4TH0gA–Mads Capital (@MadsCapital) April 18, 2024
Hiroshi Lockheimer will take on other projects within Google and Alphabet. It’s unclear why Google removed it from software platforms. He has been a key figure at the company and was instrumental in the development of Android, Chrome and ChromeOS.
This change, or “consolidation,” as Osterloh calls it, aims to improve the integration and deployment of AI across Google’s products. “Consolidating teams helps us be able to do full-stack innovation when needed,” he said.
Some of the most notable hardware aspects that benefit immensely from AI and ML (Machine Learning) are synthetic vision (digital camera) and GPUs (Graphics Processing Units). The Pixel camera is one of the biggest beneficiaries of rapid developments in AI.
Osterloh even pointed out Google’s in-house Tensor GPUs. Although far from NVIDIA’s GPUs, Google Tensor is quickly reaching new heights in on-device AI processing.
AI will help Google improve Android update speed
There’s no doubt that Google came a little late to the AI party. Microsoft is currently ahead with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but Google has the Android operating system. It goes without saying that Google has the most widely used operating system in the world and offers services that run on millions of actively used devices.
Thanks to the new team, AI is expected to penetrate deeper into Android. Google could ask this new superteam to quickly deploy, refine and improve AI in Android Auto, Wear OS and ChromeOS.
Google is already integrating its Gemini AI and chatbot into almost every product imaginable. As a result, almost every device running the Android operating system or its fork could soon have some form of AI.
Osterloh suggested that one of Google’s goals is to “make everything faster.” This also includes speeding up Android updates. “We can’t integrate a new SOC into existing products, but we can design for longevity and then update our software frequently,” he explains.
The new Platforms & Devices team, born from the merger of Android and Hardware, appears to be Google’s attempt to run a tight ship. Perhaps this integrated, consolidated approach could help Google reduce the number of products it kills.