Google has announced its first custom-designed processor for consumer products. The Pixel Visual Core is built into its recently released Pixel 2 smartphone and will be activated through a software update soon to help improve the camera on the phone, the company said.
The Pixel Visual Core is an octa-core Image Processing Unit (IPU) designed to run HDR+, a feature on Google phones to enhance low-light photos, faster and at lower energy. Google said a key ingredient to the IPU’s efficiency is the tight coupling of hardware and software; its software controls many more details of the hardware than in a typical processor.
In the coming weeks, Pixel Visual Core will be enabled as a developer option in Android 8.1. Later, it will be available for all third-party apps using the Android Camera API, giving them access to the Pixel 2’s HDR+ technology.
