According to Android Authority, the Google Tensor G3 would be a real major update. We take stock.
As much as the Google Pixel 7 are smartphones appreciated for their photo quality, power is not necessarily their main asset. In question, the Google Tensor, chips designed internally by Google, more specialized in the optimization of functions related to AI (photography or others) than in raw power.
It is on this basis that we welcome the first information on Google’s next SoC, the Tensor G3, which should equip the Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. The source is reliable since it is Kamila Wojciechowska (for Android Authority), a developer whose revelations have proven to be accurate regarding Google.
Much more modern architecture
First element brought to our attention, the probable composition of the SoC. According Android Authority, it would incorporate a more modern design than the G2, with a single high-performance core. It would be a design close to a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, with a tiny bit less clock speed on the high-efficiency core and the four middle cores.
| Tensor G3 | Tensor G2 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High performance cores | 1 Cortex-X3 3GHz | 2 Cortex-X1 2.85GHz | 1 Cortex-X3 3.2GHz |
| middle hearts | 4 Cortex-A715 2.45GHz | 2 Cortex-A78 2.3GHz | 2 Cortex-A715 2.8 GHz and 2 Cortex A710 2.8 GHz |
| High efficiency cores | 4 Cortex-A510 2.15GHz | 4 Cortex-A55 1.8GHz | 3 Cortex-A510 2GHz |
We also note that Google is moving to a more recent ARM V9 architecture since it dates from 2022, which allows it to add support for a security technology, MTE (Memory Taggin Extensions), which should avoid certain types memory-based attacks.
The first smartphone capable of encoding in AV1?
always according to Android Authority, the Tensor G3 would integrate a new custom video decoder, called BigOcean. This would allow future Pixel 8 and 8 Pro to get up to speed on video. Both smartphones should theoretically support 8K/30 FPS video encoding and decoding in H.264 and HEVC. Even more impressive, the Pixel 8 would be the first phones capable of encoding in AV1 up to 4K/30 FPS.
Storage could also gain a few stripes, since the Pixel 8 would sign the transition to UFS 4.0, which would mean a performance gain of 50% compared to UFS 3.1. Note also the arrival of a new DSP (Digital Signal Processor) responsible for working on the shots taken by the Pixel. A highly strategic element for a smartphone that relies so much on the photo.
All these elements suggest that after a Tensor G2 which looked more like an overclocked version of the Tensor G1, Google would have decided to offer a real upgrade.
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