Google’s Modular Smartphone Gets Rockchip’s Latest Processor
Google announced a partnership with Chinese System-on-Chip (SoC) manufacturer Rockchip, using its SoC in the latest prototype of its Project Ara modular smartphone.
The partnership with Rockchip is good news for enthusiasts of the modular phone concept. In order for the vision of an affordable and fully upgradable smartphone to become a reality, developers had to solve a problem that lies at the heart of the concept; the ability for the processor to work as a module rather than the underlying backbone of the device. This means that the new processor will not require any bridge chip and will operate as an independent module that can easily be replaced.
Rockchip’s new custom-made system-on-chip processor, set for release in early 2015, will use a UniPro interface that will allow it to run as an application processor in the modular design rather than serve as the hub for the entire device. Thus, the expected date of release initially set by Google for the project might be linked to the date of release of the chip.
Project Ara currently uses chips developed by Texas Instruments Incorporated and plans to start shipping its first-generation hardware to developers in the coming weeks.
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