Discussion Google Tensor SoC thread

[sze5003]

I don't know what the split is but many people do care and for the many people who don't care it's not a negative unless it hurts battery life.

Google wanted their own SoC to lower cost and to integrate IP they had designed (TPU).

True, had pixels for years until they went to their own SOC then battery life and modem became garbage.

 

[FlameTail]

Another Google Chips leak:

Tensor G6

Google Pixel 11’s Tensor G6 might be a downgrade, but could also fix some big Pixel phone flaws

Google is aware of its Tensor chip's shortcomings, but Pixel 11 might still come with some downgrades - but it's for a good reason.

www.androidauthority.com

Apart from the CPU, other stuff like GPU, DSP, SLC are getting downgraded. Apparently, the motivation is to reduce the die area, and hence reduce the SoC cost.

What on earth are they doing? Pixels cost as much as iPhones now. Customers expect to have a flagship SoC for the price they are paying.

 

[gdansk]

What on earth are they doing? Pixels cost as much as iPhones now. Customers expect to have a flagship SoC for the price they are paying.

I've said it before - in phones people care about features, working radios, low power draw for more battery life. Google intends to fix those problems and add more features to their phones. In my opinion it seems they correctly identified key complaints from customer feedback.

Few care about peak performance if they can fix the other problems. I do question the GPU choice, however. Why IMG...?
1 x X930 + 6 A730 sounds like it should offer decent peak performance and good efficiency. G5 is the one that seems most cost cutting. Why another generation with X4?

 

[Doug S]

Another Google Chips leak:

Tensor G6

Google Pixel 11’s Tensor G6 might be a downgrade, but could also fix some big Pixel phone flaws

Google is aware of its Tensor chip's shortcomings, but Pixel 11 might still come with some downgrades - but it's for a good reason.

www.androidauthority.com

Apart from the CPU, other stuff like GPU, DSP, SLC are getting downgraded. Apparently, the motivation is to reduce the die area, and hence reduce the SoC cost.

What on earth are they doing? Pixels cost as much as iPhones now. Customers expect to have a flagship SoC for the price they are paying.

Google's strategy with the Pixel makes no sense. Why are they even doing a custom SoC if they are going to cut corners on something selling at flagship prices? Maybe cutting corners to cut the price of the SoC is because they want to cut the price of the Pixel - maybe the "price it like iPhone" strategy they moved to after being a bit more affordable in the past isn't working out for them.

 

[MarkizSchnitzel]

The whole Pixel line makes no sense whatsoever, and I'm pretty sure google is as lost as people wondering here.

Do they want to make money of it? Like serious money? That takes consistency and slow hard work.
But charging iphone prices with such low marketshare will not get them serious money. So that can't be it.

They should have attacked mid and lower end. Work their way up.

 

[LightningZ71]

Considering that I see most people getting the base pixel or Pixel a series when they go on sale (including me getting my regular 8 on the recent deep discount), they aren't making a whole lot of money on them. The few people that I know that have the Pro or Max got them with carrier subsidy.

I have to say, my regular 8 and my iPhone 13 for work don't feel markedly better or worse than each other for daily use. I don't play demanding games on my phones, so performance is measured on general usage, web browsing, social media apps, and certain utility apps. Both do everything that I need, when I need to do it, and have a battery that lasts me all day in my usage.

 

[FlameTail]

They should have attacked mid and lower end. Work their way up.

IMO it's a good thing that Google is positioning the Pixel as a 'premium phone'. If you look at the Pixel 9 series, they have all the ingredients of a premium phone (except for the SoC, that is).

Android has a serious brand image problem. The vast majority of the populace thinks that "Android = cheap, iPhone = premium". Like 90% of GenZ prefers iPhones, which is alarming.

The few people that I know that have the Pro or Max got them with carrier subsidy.

You mean the Pro XL? There isn't a Pixel Max

 

[moinmoin]

Android has a serious brand image problem. The vast majority of the populace thinks that "Android = cheap, iPhone = premium". Like 90% of GenZ prefers iPhones, which is alarming.

Isn't that a problem specific to the North American market? Everywhere else (aside Australia and Oceania) iOS is in the minority.

 

[DZero]

Isn't that a problem specific to the North American market? Everywhere else (aside Australia and Oceania) iOS is in the minority.

Don't forget Japan which is iOS dependant. Funny story...

What the heck Australia? This screws the Pixel phones big time. Androids are screwed HARD this time.

 

[FlameTail]

Isn't that a problem specific to the North American market? Everywhere else (aside Australia and Oceania) iOS is in the minority.

Even South Korea, the home turf of Samsung isn't secure;

Young Koreans favor iPhones over Samsung Galaxy: survey

In South Korea, 69 percent of adult smartphone users use a Samsung device, while only 23 percent use iPhones, a Gallup survey of 1,001 adults found. But the survey reveals a starkly different trend in one demographic: younger millennials and Gen Z. Among the younger generation, aged 18 to 29...

www.koreaherald.com

 

[LightningZ71]

Isn't that a problem specific to the North American market? Everywhere else (aside Australia and Oceania) iOS is in the minority.

Maybe. But it matches what we see. Every kid at the private school my daughter's friends go to has an iPhone. They even asked her if she ever tried to hide the fact that she has an android from people. She doesn't care about that stuff, but it certainly is a status thing.

 

[moinmoin]

Don't forget Japan which is iOS dependant.

I'll include them in Oceania.

Even South Korea, the home turf of Samsung isn't secure;

Young Koreans favor iPhones over Samsung Galaxy: survey

In South Korea, 69 percent of adult smartphone users use a Samsung device, while only 23 percent use iPhones, a Gallup survey of 1,001 adults found. But the survey reveals a starkly different trend in one demographic: younger millennials and Gen Z. Among the younger generation, aged 18 to 29...

www.koreaherald.com

That's a strong flip at that age range indeed. Do we have similar market share data from other regions?

 

[Doug S]

They should have attacked mid and lower end. Work their way up.

The lower you go the harder it is to make a profit, and the more volume is required to achieve that profit. Does Google want to sell tens of millions of phones a year, and risk pissing off their OEMs?

At some point with enough competitive pressure from Google stealing their lunch money they might decide to come together around a common non-Google flavor of Android and cut them out. Put the collective weight of Samsung, Moto, Oneplus, or whoever the big non-China players are in Android these days behind a common and trusted default app store, doing their own Chromium browser fork instead of bundling Chrome, default to ChatGPT search instead of Google Search and suddenly Google's aggressiveness with Pixel you're recommending has cost Google tens of billions in revenue.

 

[NostaSeronx]

Does Google want to sell tens of millions of phones a year, and risk pissing off their OEMs?

The OEMs for the ultra-low-end aren't that great.

The unholy trinity:
- Tensor Go
- Pixel Go
- Android Go

Would be great.

 

[DZero]

Another Google Chips leak:

Tensor G6

Google Pixel 11’s Tensor G6 might be a downgrade, but could also fix some big Pixel phone flaws

Google is aware of its Tensor chip's shortcomings, but Pixel 11 might still come with some downgrades - but it's for a good reason.

www.androidauthority.com

Apart from the CPU, other stuff like GPU, DSP, SLC are getting downgraded. Apparently, the motivation is to reduce the die area, and hence reduce the SoC cost.

What on earth are they doing? Pixels cost as much as iPhones now. Customers expect to have a flagship SoC for the price they are paying.

Uses the design of the Tensor G4!
Is a total regression and maybe SD 7+ Gen 3 may beat it.

 

[FlameTail]

Efficiency curve of Tensor G4:

It is mid.

CPU能效曲线

socpk.com

 

[DZero]

Even Kirin with worse tech manages to defeat Google Tensor big time. If Tensor G5 fails to impress... I guess this is it.

 

[rosetta]

How hard would it be for Google to offer the pixel 10 pro models with the snapdragon instead of tensor?
Surely it can't be too hard with Samsung running 2 different SOCs over the last years.

 

[DZero]

Samsung is screwed since going full SD Elite, would massively increase the price.

 

[FlameTail]

Samsung is screwed since going full SD Elite, would massively increase the price.

Customers rejoice though.

An all-Snapdragon S25 series would age like fine wine. Especially considering these get 7 years of updates, it would still be a great buy in 2026/2027.

 

[DZero]

Customers rejoice though.

An all-Snapdragon S25 series would age like fine wine. Especially considering these get 7 years of updates, it would still be a great buy in 2026/2027.

The issue is that the cost will increase dramatically. Unlike the chinese, they can't sell at loss.

 

[hemedans]

The issue is that the cost will increase dramatically. Unlike the chinese, they can't sell at loss.

S24 was a success due to E2400, it made s24 cheaper than even Chinese flagship, for the first time since 2018 base S device appeared in top 10.

Rumors S25 will get price hike and Samsung is optimistic if S25 will outsold S24.

 

[DZero]

S24 was a success due to E2400, it made s24 cheaper than even Chinese flagship, for the first time since 2018 base S device appeared in top 10.

Rumors S25 will get price hike and Samsung is optimistic if S25 will outsold S24.

S23 was the best Samsung made, but the issue? cost.. recently now the 2nd hand S23 Ultra cost as the same as an A55 new, taking 9 months... previously, you can find the S22 ultra at the price of the A54 just 6 months later. Both new.

Now expect the S25 costing the same after a year. Maybe they want to copy the iPhone cost value conservation?

 

[FlameTail]

Bombshell rumour:

Google has chosen a Mediatek 5G modem for the Pixel 10 series of phones.

Exclusive: Google picks a MediaTek modem for the Pixel 10 series

In an unexpected move, Google has decided to use a next-gen Mediatek modem in its upcoming Pixel 10 series phones.

www.androidauthority.com

Pixel 1-5
Qualcomm Integrated modems

Pixel 6-9
Samsung External modems

 

[MarkizSchnitzel]

@DZero Where do you live?
In EU (e.g. Germany), Ultra price graph and A5X graphs don't ever cross paths. Not even remotely close. An old out of warranty beat up ultra is and always has been significantly more expensive.

And S24 Ultra has had a significantly higher average selling price compared to S23 Ultra (~1000€ vs ~850€), as well as higher deal price and higher max price.

Pixel 9 Pro XL took a month to depreciate the same as S24 ultra in 3 months.

Everybody who I know owned a Pixel said performance is "fine". And most had modem/battery issues at some point, and hated the insanely slow charging.
So when Google says they will focus on improving what matters most, by cutting the SOC performance, I would be hesitant to believe it until they actually deliver. So far their track record in SOC and support and availability is awful.