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The Tensor G3 could be a surprisingly big upgrade for the Pixel 8
- Specs for the Pixel 8’s Tensor G3 chipset have leaked online.
- The specs corroborate a previous Android Authority leak.
- Expect an eclectic nine-core CPU and Arm’s flagship GPU.
Google has been offering semi-custom Tensor processors inside its Pixel phones since 2021, offering improved machine learning and image processing smarts. The company will use the Tensor G3 chip in the Pixel 8 series, and the processor’s specs have now leaked.
M Brandon Lee of This Is Tech Today posted pictures showing an apparent Pixel 8 Pro running the Device Info HW app. This app lists various system parameters, and we get a look at the Tensor G3 specs here.
The app lists the Tensor G3 as having an eclectic, nine-core CPU. It consists of one Cortex-X3 big core clocked at 2.91GHz, four Cortex-A715 medium cores at 2.37GHz, and four Cortex-A510 little cores at 1.7GHz. Aside from the clock speeds, this is in line with our own exclusive leak earlier this year.
EXCLUSIVE: Google Pixel 8 Pro Hardware information. https://t.co/ESwLhJLjni pic.twitter.com/83kDyFyCP5— M. Brandon Lee | THIS IS TECH TODAY (@thisistechtoday) October 2, 2023
This should nevertheless make for a major improvement in CPU performance over previous Tensor chips. In fact, the medium cores alone are capable of delivering performance in line with the Cortex-X1 used as the two big cores in previous Tensor chips.
Meanwhile, the Tensor G3 is listed as having a Mali-G715 GPU. That’s broadly in line with our previous claim about Google using Arm’s Immortalis-G715 part. There’s no word on the number of shader cores used in this GPU, but we hope it offers respectable sustained performance.
Do you think the Tensor G3 will perform well?
It’s worth noting that silicon designer Arm has already launched newer CPU cores and GPUs earlier this year. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, expected to be unveiled later this month, is tipped to use these latest CPU cores. So Google won’t necessarily have bleeding-edge CPU and GPU parts, but the Tensor G3 would still be the most modern chipset ever launched by the Pixel maker and in line with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and MediaTek Dimensity 9200 on paper.
Otherwise, the screenshots also list a 4nm manufacturing process, but we wouldn’t rely on a hardware info app to give us this information. These details typically aren’t included in Android system files and these same apps incorrectly listed the Tensor G2 as being a 4nm design rather than a 5nm chip.