Google Tensor G5 leak details key changes

18 March 2025
Google is bringing a fully custom ISP for the first time in its Tensor era.

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Anonymous, 7 hours agoThis will be an interesting chip. Wonder why they are goin... moreI think it will be GPU virtualization for part of the reason, and another part of the reason is IMG is officially contributing to their DRM driver in the upstream Linux kernel and Mesa drivers unlike both ARM and Qualcomm.

    DeepIn2U, 6 hours agoWhile I agree the older Imagination Technologies GPU was ga... moreOne exception will be the controller for SFS 1.0 in mate 40 series by Huawei. The nand flash was from YMTC and the storage controller wouldn't be from Samsung, but its performance is better.

      DeepIn2U, 5 hours agoGoogle tensor fans be making up all kinds of excuses. E... moreAFAIK Tensor G6 CPU config is just Dimension 9500 sans one X930, and on the same process.

        DeepIn2U, 5 hours agoIt's not their focus? It's cause they don't ... moreIf things are going as you said then Huawei should also give up their current Kirin 9xxx now, and Kirin K3V2 16 years ago. I'm holding a OnePlus 13 but I think this kinda process is necessary. (Well, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau once mocked Huawei's Kirin couldn't match snapdragon in 10 years or so, and get slapped in his face by Kirin 980, and especially, Kirin 810 and 820 haha)

          TheSnowWinterR7, 7 hours agoYup, that is what I also said a few times on this site. Eit... moreWith the Pixel we admit is inferior in many aspects compared to its competitors, tbh I'm more concern about the pricing though. Like no, you can't just rely on your good ISP and your clean software (and forgetting about how bad is your modem, your phone efficiency, etc) and think it's a good idea to sell it for more than $1000 (looking at you, Pixel Fold), while with the same price your competitors offers better hardware.

          Phone is not all about camera, though.

            pl2rts, 7 hours agoI expect it at least beat D8400 or SD 7+ gen 3 So at least... moreD8400 has pretty good GPU (on par with 8G2) and is a tier above 8s Gen 3/7+ Gen 3. I expect Tensor G5 to fall somewhere between the two. So clearly not ideal for gamers (8G3 would be a much better choice with 40-50% higher performance).

            On CPU front, performance should be similar to 8G3. CPU power efficiency should be slightly better (as G5 would be based on N3E as compared to N4P for 8G3).

            Overall a pretty decent chip... of course it is a lot behind the likes of SD8E and D9400, but should suffice for a large majority of users.

              DeepIn2U, 5 hours agoIt's not their focus? It's cause they don't ... moreBruh, I already pointed out in my previous point, even using the well-established Snapdragon chipsets for their first 5 generations of Pixels that should been more stable and better based on standards than their current Tensors, they never meant to crunch an outstanding number that Gaming Phones or most Snapdragon chipset, from 821 of OG Pixel to 765G of Pixel 5/5a 5G, meant Google already deliberately never want to reach for a burst of performance and has been a pattern for 5 years+. I would understand your comment if it's only occurred once or twice, but these are five times during the Snapdragon era! Even if they going to return to using Snapdragon or switch to MediaTek, believe me, they gonna nerfed both either SD or MTK again regardless, because they deemed it unnecessary.

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                • Anonymous
                • CbI
                • 4 hours ago

                Google and fabbed by TSMC instead of Samsung. Era of samsung is over.
                No android 15 in flagship phones till this date

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                  • Anonymous
                  • UVI
                  • 4 hours ago

                  tsmc =hope

                    T M, 6 hours agoAbout time they got away from that Samsung junk. I might no... moreGoogle tensor fans be making up all kinds of excuses.

                    Exynos is miles better than any current Tensor chip and the 2800 will leap frog the T5/T6.

                    Do your research!

                      TheSnowWinterR7, 7 hours agoYup, that is what I also said a few times on this site. Eit... moreIt's not their focus? It's cause they don't have the expertise and shouldn't be designing their on SoC period. Not yet! Keep it internal and keep learning or steel staff from MediaTek or Qualcomm. Or give it up

                        Nah I would like to wait till GX

                          I just hope their next phone will look "custom" as well. They should move away from the typical glass slab design and use high-quality soft-textured plastic instead. Maybe incorporate some leather or textile materials as well.

                          Back then, I've always liked google because their products were unique.

                          Google's aesthetic, in my opinion, should focus more on curves and rounded design, and cheerful colors. Something that's more "fun and chic" than business formal. That's always been my impression of Google: fun and chic.

                            While I agree the older Imagination Technologies GPU was garbage a lot of this direction is senseless:

                            Samsung's memory controllers for smartphones, laptops, tablets, cars and SoC's that utilities shared system memory like Qualcomm's or Apple's ARM chips are THE best in the business. Google has nothing on their own experience in this field so this will be under performing to UFS 4 Let alone for USF4.1 !!

                            DSP experience may be better yet it was NOT bad at all with Samsung in the old fabricated chipset.

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                              • T M
                              • 0fV
                              • 6 hours ago

                              About time they got away from that Samsung junk. I might now consider a pixel for my next phone.

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                                • Anonymous
                                • 0p}
                                • 7 hours ago

                                This will be an interesting chip. Wonder why they are going with imagination technologies GPU?

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 64i
                                  • 7 hours ago

                                  But Arm Immortalis is the best gpu on the market.

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                                    • Anonymous
                                    • y6V
                                    • 7 hours ago

                                    if Google can fix the problem with older IMG PowerVR BXM GPUs lacks optimization in vulkan, after the final launch product of the new Pixel 10 with IMG DXT GPU on G5 SoC, launced in Android 16.

                                    Then it could be an interesting to test Pixel 10 out with modern game uses Vulkan (3DMark Wild Life, Warzone Mobile, Asphalt Legends Unite) and Compute GPU that uses OpenCL/Vulkan (Geekbench 6).

                                    And there's opportunity to make PowerVR GPU could do well after Android 16 launch on the other SoCs (D7020/D7025)

                                      403 Forbidden, 7 hours agoThis. Google never focuses on performance racing since the ... moreYup, that is what I also said a few times on this site. Either TSMC or Samsung, Either the Exynos-based Tensor, Snapdragon, or this upcoming Tensor, Google has and always never known for performance on their devices, at least in the Pixel era since 2016. It baffles me sometimes why some people want an absolute performance from Google when it's not their focus and forte. ISP is the one that I know that Google always focuses on the most.

                                      I don't know if most commentators, antis, fans, or anyone in the tech communities that are active in the last 2 years in this site were presence during Google Pixel's era with Snapdragon or not, but even during the "perfect" combination tech of Google Pixel that tech nerds need and want, the 2019 Google Pixel 4 series with Snapdragon 855 and TSMC-fab 7nm processor that this site out loud wanting to be returned and ditch their Tensor right away, Google Pixel 4 flagship series lagged than the other Snapdragon 855 peers in raw performance and benchmark, and let alone older Pixel with Snapdragon that was nerfed by Google on its clockspeed, so I think this should be wake-up call for the tech nerds to put the performance-focus on Pixel to eternal rest. Efficiency, Modem, and ISP though? Definitively to be highlighted

                                        I expect it at least beat D8400 or SD 7+ gen 3
                                        So at least it be best at middle class performance with the price they ask for the phone.

                                        SD 8s is already light flagship like standard iPhone while that type of performance there is not much hope to get from Tensor G5

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