While we still have two more Tensor G2-based devices out this month, Google’s next upgrade to Tensor G3 in the Pixel 8 series will apparently bring some drastic upgrades to the chip’s specs.
According to Tipster Kamila Wojciechowska during Android AuthorityTensor G3 will be a big upgrade with more modern cores, support for the latest storage standards, a new GPU, and more.
Starting with the cores, it looks like Google Tensor G3 will change the base layout again, this time with a 1+4+4 design. This has changed from Tensor and Tensor G2, both of which have 2+2+4 layouts.
Obviously, the only big core is Cortex-X3, which will be clocked at 3.0GHz. Behind that will be the more modern Cortex-A715, with four of those middle cores clocked at 2.45GHz. This is a huge step up from the Cortex-A78 that was in Tensor G2. As for the “small” cores, there will be four Cortex-A510 cores with a frequency of 2.15 GHz, which are also more modern compared to the Cortex-A55 in previous Tensor generations.
All this was Announced in 2022so technically Tensor G3 will still be a little behind, but much closer than ever.
These upgrades alone should provide a significant boost to the CPU’s overall performance, as well as its efficiency. This also provides support for ARMv9, which allows for security upgrades. The Pixel 8, according to Wojciechowska, will use this upgrade to implement Arm’s Memory Characterization Extensions (MTE) to help prevent memory-based attacks. This will also completely remove 32-bit support, which Google had already moved away from on the Pixel 7.
Another major point of upgrade is storage, as this new chip allows the Pixel 8 to support the faster and more efficient UFS 4.0 storage used in devices like the Galaxy S23 Ultra and OnePlus 11.
The GPU is also getting a major upgrade, with the Tensor G3 reportedly picking up Arm’s new Immortalis GPU, specifically the Mali-G715. This isn’t the latest generation, but the 10-core GPU would provide a significant upgrade, including support for ray tracing.
Tensor G3 will upgrade video decoding/encoding, using “BigWave” block. It retains AV1 decoding from Tensor G2, but also adds AV1 encoding of up to 4k30. For encoding, the Pixel 8 chip will support up to 8k30, but it’s unclear if Google will actually ship the feature. The TPU upgrade is also coming under the codename “Rio”, which will bring a faster clock speed at 1.1GHz. No specifics, but it’s said to be a “big” upgrade. The new digital signal processor, “callisto,” brings a quad-core, 512KB/core configuration with a frequency of 1065MHz, which is said to offload more image processing.
As mentioned earlier, the Pixel 8’s Tensor G3 chip won’t bring any changes to the modem, which might not be a big deal considering the major upgrade that came with the Exynos 5300 modem in the Tensor G2. In a previous test, we found Pixel modem performance to be comparable to Qualcomm’s.
The Google Tensor G3 is also expected to be a 4nm chip made according to Samsung’s process. The Pixel 8 series is expected to arrive in October 2023.
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