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Google merges the Android, Chrome, and hardware divisions

Google says the new “Platform and Devices” team will let it move faster.

"Having a unified team across Platforms & Devices will help us deliver higher quality products and experiences for our users and partners," writes Google CEO Sundar Pichai. The announcement is a few paragraphs in a wide-ranging post by Pichai, titled, "Building for our AI future," and the new division is taking a chunk of Google Research along with it, specifically the group that has been working on computational photography. Somewhat undercutting the announcement is an interview Osterloh gave to The Verge about the re-org, where, when asked about the legendary firewall, he indicated it would still stick around: “We have always kept distinct teams between Android and our ecosystem partners, and our first-party hardware efforts.” Hope that clears everything up.

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