With the release of the Pixel 6, Google unveiled its first Tensor chipset, aiming to grow independent of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon. Interestingly, these Tensor chips were developed in collaboration with Samsung and incorporate certain elements from Google, while drawing substantial inspiration from Samsung's Exynos chips. According to a recent report, this will remain the same, extending into the development of the forthcoming Tensor G3 and Tensor G4 chips.
According to a report by Android Authority, citing a “Google insider”, Tensor G4 in the Google Pixel 9 won’t be a very big upgrade.
Also read: Google may pray for AI to save Tensor G3 chip’s reputation in Pixel 8 phones
While Tensor G3 is known as “Zuma,” Tensor G4 is codenamed “Zuma Pro,” according to the report.
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The new chip is expected to still be semi-custom and co-designed with Samsung. Also, it will likely be a minor upgrade than initially planned. This is similar to how Tensor G2 was a small update over the original Tensor.
The report further mentioned that Google has also started working on the next-generation fully-custom Tensor chip codename “Laguna Beach” for 2025 Pixels, and the development board for this chip is codenamed “Deepspace.”
Google initially had plans to introduce its 2024 Pixel series featuring a "fully custom" Tensor SoC, codenamed "Redondo," built using a TSMC process node. However, due to a missed deadline, the chip arrived too late for inclusion in the 2024 Pixel 9 series.
Earlier, it was rumoured that the upcoming Tensor G3 chipset won’t have as good a performance as its other flagship counterparts. This could be a potential deal breaker, if true. But that’s not all, rumours also suggested that this Google chip will be coming with top notch AI under the hood, which would allow Google to still showcase some never-before-seen applications on the Pixel 8 smartphone later this year – and save its reputation.