The man behind the photography magic of Pixel phones, Marc Levoy has left Google. This has been mentioned in a report by The Information.
Levoy was the head of the camera division in the Pixel team and used to report to the main hardware boss at Google, Rick Osterloh. The report pointed out Levoy had quit Google back in March this year. Levoy’s expertise in computational photography is the main reason behind the quality of the camera on Pixel phone but apart from that, there’s very little that has appealed to both buyers as well as reviewers. For instance, Pixel 4 came with an underwhelming battery life, which was a big mistake by Google’s product unit.
The camera has been one of the strong points about Pixel phones, especially since the Pixel 3 series, which received positive feedback from the tech community. However, things have fallen dramatically since the launch of Pixel 4 which did not make it way too many countries, including India, because of its built-on soli radar chip which is not permissible on mobile devices in different regions.
The report suggests Osterloh had strong words to share with his team after the launch of the Pixel 4 last year. The news about Levoy and Mario Queiroz leaving the Pixel team is a good indication that Google is looking to change up things, which could help them revive the company’s mobile business once again.
These exits could imply that Google is looking to change its fortunes with the Pixel division from here on. The company has launched four devices since making its debut few years back, but it has been hard sailing for the company, especially in the US where it has failed to attract buyers, something that’s not been a problem for Apple, which is the segment leader in its domestic market by a huge margin. Here in India, the company’s phones didn’t stand a chance against spec-heavy brands like OnePlus, Oppo and now Xiaomi among others.
Google is expected to launch the Pixel 4a series in the coming weeks, and they will be hoping that the new mid-range phone has enough power and value to rival Apple’s latest iPhone SE 2020 which has been launched in India for around Rs 40,000.