Google Tensor

Google Tensor leak suggests big efficiency upgrades on Pixel 10 and Pixel 11

Ben Schoon | Oct 23 2024 - 8:13 am PT

New details surrounding Google’s future plans for the Tensor chips in Pixel 10 and Pixel 11 are hinting at a main focus on efficiency upgrades in 2025, with further upgrades to come on the Pixel 11 later on.

Google Tensor has been steadily improving over the past few years since its debut in the Pixel 6 series, with battery life and heat concerns being a recurring part of the “cons” column in virtually every discussion around Pixel phones. Tensor G3 in the Pixel 8 series and Tensor G4 in the Pixel 9 series have been noticeably better in these regards, but Google has still strayed far from the Snapdragon chips that Pixel phones used to be equipped with.

For Tensor G5 in Pixel 10, Google is reportedly focusing mainly on these points, rather than big performance upgrades.

As has been reported for some time now, Google is moving away from Samsung with Tensor G5, codenamed “Laguna,” to production through TSMC with its own chip design. Android Authority, citing documents from “Google’s gChips division” (there’s no mention of the age of these documents), says Google is planning to use TSMC’s 3nm N3E process for Tensor G5. This is the same manufacturing process that Apple uses for the chip in iPhone 16 Pro. That move alone should bring a huge upgrade to efficiency, as TSMC’s process has been shown time and time again to be considerably more efficient than Samsung’s.

The documents are also claimed to contain details about “Malibu,” Google’s Tensor G6 chip destined for the Pixel 11 series. This chip, the report claims, would bring bigger upgrades through TSMC’s N3P node, the same one Apple is expected to use in its A19 chips. Despite still being based on a 3nm process, the new process should continue to bring bigger upgrades to efficiency.

There’s no word on what else these new Tensor chips would bring to the table, at least not yet.