Google have finally released the details to the new SoC on the new Pixel phones. The name of this new SoC is the Google Tensor G2.

Last year, Google, a software company, decided to that it needed to up its game in the smartphone market. Inorder to do this, it needed its own hardware, but there was a problem. Google is a software company not a hardware one. So it turned to one of its rivals for help.

Samsung

Samsung are an established SoC fabrication company that makes its own SoCs (Exynos) and until recently could count Qualcomm as one of its regular customers.

Well Samsung are a shadow of of their former selves. Their flagship SoCs have regularly flopped and their fabrication processes seem tainted.

Google Tensor

It is this Samsung that Google approached to help them make an SoC. That SoC became known as the Google Tensor.

Now if it were just the fabrication process alone, it wouldn’t have been too much of a problem. Instead, the Tensor is basically a repurposed Exynos SoC with some input from the engineers at Google.

Now it’s safe to say that the original Tensor didn’t pull up any trees or impress anyone. It was an AI SoC with a photocentric focus and that was it.

It also suffered it’s own issues as well especially the heating from the cortex X1s and the beastly Mali G78 MP20.

The power draw from this SoC was immense and Google had to throttle performance at some point earlier this year.

Knowing all of these, Google went back to the drawing board and designed the successor to the Google Tensor…

Google Tensor G2

They call it the Google Tensor G2. The G2 stands for second generation.

Let’s take a look at the spec sheet

  • CPUs
  • Prime cores: 2x Cortex X1 (2.85GHz)
  • Big cores: 2x Cortex A78 (2.35GHz)
  • Small cores: 4x Cortex A55 (1.8GHz)
  • GPU: ARM Mali G710 MP7
  • RAM: LPDDR5
  • Storage: UFS 3.1
  • ISP: Pixel Neural core
  • AI: Next Gen Custom Edge TPU
  • Camera: 108MP max
  • Video: 4K@30/60fps
  • Display: QHD (1440p)
  • Modem: Qualcomm Snapdragon X60 (5G)
  • Security: Titan M2 chip
  • Fab: 5nm Samsung

CPU cores

The Google Tensor G2 looks like the original with a few key exceptions: the big cores, GPU and AI accelerator. These three have all been upgraded.

Everyone and their dog is on Cortex X2 prime CPU cores and are going to be using Cortex X3 CPUs at the end of this year. Google seems happy to stay with Cortex X1 CPUs for another year. That would put them two generations behind everyone else.

This is vaguely reminiscent of Huawei who in their heyday choose to focus on photography rather than performance. It would seem that Google are towing the same path here.

The Google Tensor G2 should provide a similar performance to it’s predecessor whilst consuming less battery due it much newer GPU.

GPU

Common sense prevailed and they decided to drop that pressure cooker of a GPU known as the Mali G78 MP20 for a more modern and cooler GPU. They went with the Mali G710 MP7.

Before you even say it, yes, this is the same GPU on the Mediatek Dimensity 9000 and 9000+.

Other specs

Other specs you can find on the SoC like the LPDDR5 RAM, UFS 3.1 support, 108MP support, 4K video recording and QHD displays are what you can find on most high end SoCs.

In fact, Qualcomm, Mediatek and Samsung can boast of 8K video recording and support for 200MP cameras. So, again, Google aren’t pulling up any trees here.

Apart from the GPU and the big cores, google was content to simply keep everything the same. Who knows, maybe the software may be better optimized for the Tensor G2 than it’s older sibling.

There’s no reason to be excited for this one. It’s the same as last year’s with a few add-ons. Let’s just hope that it doesn’t come with all of the problems as well.

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