That’s engineer Marc Levoy and former Pixel director, Mario Queiroz. These are all the key names that contribute to the reputation of the Pixel smartphone camera.
According to The Information , Queiroz is said to have left the Pixel group two months before the launch of Pixel 4, moving to work directly with CEO Sundar Pichai. But in January of this year, Queiroz left Google to join cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks led by former Softbank Group president Nikesh Arora.
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| Marc Levoy is the person behind the “money” feature of the Pixel series. Photo: ArtisanHD . |
Marc Levoy, meanwhile, has left Google in March of this year. He is behind the Pixel camera algorithm, with features that are better than rivals like HDR +, portrait photography and night photography (Night Sight).
Levoy is a Stanford University professor who led the project that later became Google Street View. He also worked as an advisor for the Google Glass project before being recruited by Google in 2014. The departure of Levoy was the great loss of the Pixel team.
The resignation of the Pixel leaders is most likely due to the failure of the Pixel 4, the smartphone is shaping up to be the competitor of the iPhone 11. Although the first generation is appreciated, the last two Pixel generations I don’t have much sympathy anymore.
Even before Levoy and Queiroz quit, there were disagreements within the Pixel group. The Information has revealed criticism from hardware leader Rick Osterloh to the Pixel 4.
During a hardware group meeting ahead of last fall’s product launch, Osterloh expressed his disagreement with some product-related decisions, especially disappointing battery life.
The Pixel 4 has a 2,800 mAh battery capacity for the regular version and 3,700 mAh for the XL version. With a highly configurable device, a large screen with a 90 Hz refresh rate, the battery capacity is quite modest, even less than the iPhone 11. The review also indicates the battery life of the Pixel 4 is lower than the other smartphone.
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| The departure of two important figures shows Google’s difficulties in the smartphone market. Photo: Indian Express . |
The Pixel 4 is not selling as well as previous generations. IDC statistics show that Google only sold 2 million Pixel 4 units in the first 2 quarters, much lower than the 3.5 million Pixel 3 made, not counting nearly 3 million Pixel 3a handsets. users also in the 2 quarters after launch.
Compared to rival smartphones, sales of the recent Pixel series are also much lower, for example, Apple sold 73.8 million iPhones in the fourth quarter of 2019, around the time the Pixel 4 was launched and reached consumers.
In the near future, Google will launch Pixel 4a, a mid-range smartphone with the hope of succeeding the Pixel 3a. Product launch time has been postponed to June instead of May as planned.