Google Pixel 9 family's Tensor G4 chipset won't be a huge upgrade, report claims

If through all the Pixel 9 family leaks in recent days you've been left wondering what to expect from Google's Tensor G4 chipset that will be powering all of them, we now have just the leak for you - but it's not great news.

According to a new report citing "a source inside Google", the Tensor G4 will be the smallest upgrade ever in the Tensor line. The G4's CPU will have eight cores: one Cortex-X4, three Cortex-A720, and four Cortex-A520.

That's one less core than the G3, which had one Cortex-X3, four Cortex-A715, and four Cortex-A510. While the new Cortex-X4 will ensure better single-core performance in benchmarks (by about 11%), the multi-core result is only expected to go up by around 3% compared to the G3, as a consequence of the removal of one core.

This was allegedly done to keep the thermals and power consumption in check. Speaking of which, the main power consuming part of the G3 was apparently the Exynos 5300 modem. Thankfully, the Tensor G4 will come with the Exynos 5400, which should be up to 50% more efficient than its predecessor. And on top of that, it supports satellite connectivity.

Interestingly, Google is rumored to still be planning to release a device with the Tensor G4 but using the Exynos 5300 modem, and this we assume will be the Pixel 9a whenever it arrives. The Tensor G4 has the same Mali-G715 GPU as the G3, but it's clocked higher at 940 MHz vs. 890 MHz.

Everything else about the G4 is reportedly identical to the G3, including the custom IP blocks Google adds for AI, camera tasks, video encoding and decoding, the Titan M2 security chip, and so on.

This minor upgrade compared to the G3 is rumored to be because the G4 is essentially an improvised solution. Google wanted to create an entirely new chip for the Pixel 9 family, but it wasn't ready. So, in order not to delay the launch of the devices, it went with this minimal update solution instead.

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