According to information from a Korean economic newspaper, Samsung is once again in the process of designing the Tensor G4 chip for the future Google Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro.
If Google has indeed been designing its own processors for several generations for its Pixel smartphones, the American firm has in fact relied since its first Tensor chip on Samsung’s expertise. Indeed, not only are the chips manufactured by Samsung Foundry, but they are largely taken from the Korean firm’s Exynos chips, adapted according to Google’s requirements.
While the Google Pixel 8 and Google Pixel 8 Pro have only been available for a few days, we already know more about the company’s next generation of smartphones, the Google Pixel 9. Indeed, the Korean economic daily Maeil Kyongje published an article this Monday suggesting that Google could once again work with Samsung on the development of their processor, the Tensor G4:
According to industry sources, Samsung Electronics recently received an order for the Tensor G4 to be installed in Google’s Pixel 9, which will be launched next year. Samsung Electronics also made the Tensor G3 chip that was installed on the Pixel 8 lineup this year.
In addition to this order information for Tensor G4 chips by Google from Samsung, the British daily also indicates what the expected characteristics of this future SoC will be.
A chip that would maintain 4nm engraving finesse
According to Maeil Kyongje, Google’s Tensor G4 chip would benefit in particular from a better processor and would be known under the code name Zuma Pro. The SoC would also be manufactured with Samsung Foundry’s new 4nm SF4P engraving process. Remember that the Tensor G3 chip used by Google on its Pixel 8 was known under the code name Zuma and that it benefited from the SF4 engraving process, also in 4 nm.
If Samsung has been a partner of choice for Google for several years for its smartphone chips, one would have expected Google to now work with Qualcomm and TSMC for its Tensor G4. Indeed, for its latest connected watch, the Pixel Watch 2, Google has this time partnered with Qualcomm to integrate the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chip, manufactured by TSMC.
It seems that this will not be the case for the Tensor G4. According to the Maeil Kyongjethis choice of the Korean manufacturer and founder could be explained in particular by the advance taken by Samsung in the 4 nm engraving process: “ The rapid acceleration of Samsung Electronics’ 4nm process appears to have had an impact. […] Samsung Electronics has had several recent wins in attracting major customers for its 3rd generation 4nm process and its next generation 3nm process “.
We will still have to wait before knowing more about the Pixel 9. The smartphones should not be officially announced before fall 2024. However, until then, we are not immune to numerous rumors and leaks, or even some announcements from the manufacturer itself.
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