9th August: At the end of the year, the latest Pixel phones, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, will be available. Google has remained tight-lipped on specifics so far but has touted the new Tensor SoC that will power the phone. Now, rumors are circulating that the Tensor SoC is simply a renamed, unreleased Samsung Exynos chip. Some recent stories have hinted at Samsung’s collaboration with Google, with speculation widespread that the search giant might produce it using Samsung’s fabs.
Samsung’s Exynos 9855, codenamed “Whitechapel,” appears to be the new SoC, and the company has reportedly been working on it for more than a year. The codename is the same as what Google uses internally for TensorFlow (via GSM Arena). According to reports, Samsung was working on the chip at the same time as the Exynos 9925, which will be renamed Exynos 2200 when it debuts in the next Galaxy phone generation. It will, for example, include AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture. The “Whitechapel” or “Tensor” processor will be more powerful than the Exynos 2100 found in the Galaxy S21. The overall performance will be somewhere between the Exynos 2100 and 2200.
Google has joined the in-house SoC club, following Apple (M1), Huawei (Kirin), and Samsung (Exynos). Tensor has several advantages, including:
- More computer power: To capture photographs, Google’s Pixel combines computational photography and machine learning (Night Sight, for example). For its devices, the tech behemoth has created strong speech, recognition models. For optimal performance, the features necessitate great processing power and minimal latency. Pixel smartphones could benefit from Tensor’s complicated AI advances.
- Developing new AI capabilities: Google can use Tensor chips to add new machine learning features without worrying about performance. To execute significant AI tasks, powerful CPUs are required.
- Tensor’s new security core will work in tandem with Titan M2 to give another degree of security to hardware security. Google’s Titan M chip is a custom-built chip that protects sensitive data like passcodes, enables encryption, and ensures secure app transactions.
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