Google’s Pixel Division Undergoes Shakeup After Disappointing Launch

guest · May 13, 2020

Top members of Google’s Pixel team have left the company
May 13, 2020
https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/13/top-members-of-googles-pixel-team-have-left-the-company/

Key Pixel team members Marc Levoy and Mario Queiroz are out at Google. The departures, first reported by The Information, have been confirmed on the pages of the former Distinguished Engineer and Pixel General Manager, respectively.

Both members were key players on Google’s smartphone hardware team before exiting earlier this year. Levoy was a key member of the Pixel imaging team, with an expertise in computational photography that helped make the smartphone’s camera among the best in class. Queiroz was the number two on the Pixel team.
The exits come as the software giant has struggled to distinguish itself in a crowded smartphone field.

The products have been generally well-received (with the exception of the Pixel 4’s dismal battery life), but the Android-maker has thus far been unable to rob much market share from the likes of Samsung and Huawei.
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The Pixel is possibly the most successful of these projects, but Google’s struggles have coincided with an overall flattening of the market.
The company did find some success with last year’s budget Pixel 3A. The followup Pixel 4A was rumored for a late May launch, though the device has reportedly been delayed.
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The Information: Google’s Pixel Division Undergoes Shakeup After Disappointing Launch [paywalled]

When Google announces its latest Pixel smartphone in the coming weeks, it will be without some key architects of its previous model, which drew rare internal criticism from the company’s head of hardware, Rick Osterloh, The Information has learned.

The mastermind behind Google’s Pixel camera, Marc Levoy, who last year showed off his team’s photography advances during a Google event in New York City, left the company in March. The exit, which hasn’t been previously reported, follows the departure of Pixel general manager Mario Queiroz, the second top executive to leave the Pixel orbit in less than a year. Both declined a request for comment.
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guest · May 20, 2020

Google CEO Sundar Pichai says ‘hardware is hard’ in interview about Pixels
May 19, 2020
https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-hardware-pichai-interview-1120803/

Last week, we got a rare behind-the-scenes look at what’s going on with the Google Pixel hardware team. Unfortunately, the news was mostly bad, with internal complaints about the Google Pixel 4 design, poor sales of that device, and the exiting of two major players on the Pixel team.

This morning, The Verge published an audio interview conducted with Google’s (and Alphabet’s) CEO Sundar Pichai. During the interview, Pichai discusses the Google Pixel hardware philosophies, the difficulties the company faces, and what the future holds for the Pixel division. He sums it up best when he says very matter-of-factly, “hardware is hard.”
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Google Pixel hardware: ‘Hardware is hard.”
In a summary article of the full interview for The Vergecast, it’s made pretty clear that this interview with Pichai was likely scheduled well before news broke about problems with the Google Pixel hardware team. As such, both Pichai and The Verge probably needed to figure out how to address the fresh news on the fly.

With that in mind, Pichai doesn’t have much revelatory info to give on the situation. He does openly discuss the fact that Google has troubles with creating hardware and gives a synopsis of the company’s three-tier approach to hardware design. Unfortunately, though, he doesn’t go much deeper than that [...]
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