Google has hired Indian-origin chip architect Manu Gulati, who was working with Apple for the last eight years in a key role, to build its own chips for the upcoming Pixel phones.

According to a report in Variety, Gulati had been spearheading Apple’s chip development and has now joined Google.

Gulati announced his new job on his Linkedin profile, stating that he now works as Google’s Lead SoC Architect.

His LinkedIn profile shows that he has also worked for nearly 15 years at chip makers AMD and Broadcom, giving him a total of 27 years of experience in the industry.

Gulati was instrumental in Apple’s efforts to build custom chips for iPads, iPhones and Apple TV.

With Gulati now part of its team, Google can have an edge over other companies while it comes as a significant blow to Cupertino-based Apple.

“Apple filed a total of 15 chip-related patents that credit Gulati as one of the inventors. Some of these filings describe fundamental chip architecture, while others are more specific to certain applications,” the report noted.

One of Gulati’s patents described hardware-based security for Apple Pay that securely stores a user’s fingerprint on the iPhone.

According to reports, Google is also looking to hire additional chip experts to tightly control future Pixel hardware and who will “help define the architecture of future generations of phone and tablet” chips.

Google’s flagship Android device has now sold over 1 million units, media reported, saying the figure was reached based on downloads of an application exclusive to the device.

While this is a milestone in the eight-month history of Pixel seen as Google’s answer to the Apple iPhone, the number is overshadowed by its competition.

In comparison, Apple sold over 70 million iPhones (which included iPhone 7) in the last quarter of 2016 while Samsung is estimated to have sold 5 million units of Galaxy S8 in the first month of its release.

Launched last year, Pixel is the first smartphone that works as an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator.

The 5-inch smartphone is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset, 4GB of RAM and runs on Android Nougat 7.0 operating system.

The device also has Pixel Imprint — a fingerprint scanner on the back of the smartphone for quick access to all apps, texts and e-mails.

IANS