Another key member of Google's smartphone team has departed, just as the company is readying a new Pixel model to fix past mistakes

• As Google prepares to launch its next Pixel smartphone, one of the division's key figures has left the company.
• Marc Levoy, who helped pioneer the impressive Pixel smartphone camera, left Google in March, following the departure of another key executive from the team.
• Google hardware boss Rick Osterloh reportedly voiced his disappointment in the Pixel 4's battery life just before the phone was revealed last year.
• Do you work at Google? Contact this reporter using encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 628-228-1836) or email (hlangley@businessinsider.com).
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Google is set to announce a new Pixel smartphone in the next few weeks, but according to a report it will be doing so without one of the product's key pioneers.

The Information reports that Marc Levoy, who helped create Google's highly praised Pixel smartphone camera, has departed the company.

According to Levoy's LinkedIn page, he left Google in March this year. He follows Mario Queiroz, the previous head of Google's Pixel division, who left the team last year and departed the company months later to join Palo Alto Networks. Google declined to comment on this story.

Levoy joined Google in 2014 and helped create the much-lauded Pixel camera, giving Google's smartphones a key edge against competitors like the iPhone.

But after spending years boosting the popularity and critical reception of its Pixel smartphone portfolio, Google's latest iteration of its phone line, the Pixel 4, was meet poorly by reviewers, chiefly due to its lacking battery life.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai downplayed the phone's success during the company's Q4 2019 earnings call, and IDC figures estimate the Pixel 4 has performed significantly worse than the Pixel 3. Google is expected to launch the more affordable Pixel 4a in the coming weeks.

According to The Information's report, there were internal concerns about the Pixel 4 before it even launched. Google's hardware chief Rick Osterloh reportedly voiced his disappointment over battery power during an all-hands meeting last fall, right before the phone was announced.

Google began seriously ramping up its hardware play in 2016, but some of its efforts have proven confusing and often clumsy. The company is reportedly making good headway in building its own processor to power future Pixel smartphones and Chromebook laptops.

Meanwhile, the company is in the midst of acquiring Fitbit to bolster its efforts in wearables, but it must first appease regulators to clinch the deal.

Do you work at Google? Contact this reporter using encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 628-228-1836) or email (hlangley@businessinsider.com).

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