Google is gearing up to unveil the Pixel 9 series of smartphones on August 13. The rumor mill has already spilled numerous details about the upcoming Pixel 9 series and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold foldable phone. Interestingly, not much has been revealed about the Tensor G4 processor that will power these next-gen Pixel devices. A recent report by Android Authority indicates that the Tensor G4 will not be a significant upgrade over the Tensor G3.
Tensor G4 Specifications Leaked
The report states that the Tensor G4 will feature a 4+3+1 core layout, incorporating newer ARMv9.2 cores: the Cortex-A520, Cortex-A720, and Cortex-X4. These cores are clocked slightly higher than those in the G3, which includes four Cortex-A510, four Cortex-A715, and one Cortex-X3 core.
Pixel 9 Pro XL vs. Pixel 8 Pro Geekbench
Initial Geekbench results point to an approximate 11% boost in single-core performance and a 3% improvement in multi-core performance. However, these results should be interpreted cautiously until more data is available.
The Tensor G4 will come equipped with the new Exynos Modem 5400, which supports satellite connectivity and offers efficiency improvements, reportedly delivering up to 50% better power consumption compared to the Exynos Modem 5300 used in the Pixel 8. The GPU in the Tensor G4 remains the same Mali-G715 as in the Tensor G3, albeit clocked higher at 940MHz compared to 890MHz.
Full Specifications
The complete specifications of the Tensor G4’s CPU and GPU are as follows:
- CPU (little cluster): 4x Cortex-A520 @ 1.95GHz
- CPU (mid cluster): 3x Cortex-A720 @ 2.6 GHz
- CPU (big cluster): 1x Cortex-X4 @ 3.1 GHz
- GPU: Mali-G715 (unknown core number) @ 940MHz
Despite these hardware updates, many of the custom IP blocks that define the Tensor chips, such as the Edge TPU, GXP, BigWave, and Titan M2 security chip, remain unchanged. The packaging technology for the Tensor G4 continues to be identified as FOPLP.
Originally, the Tensor G4 was intended to be an entirely different chip built independently of Samsung, codenamed “redondo,” but delays led to the decision to collaborate with Samsung once more. As a result, the Tensor G4 (“zumapro”) represents a minimal upgrade over the Tensor G3 (“zuma”). In summary, while the Tensor G4 might not be a major step forward, it does bring some improvements, such as the new modem, which offers enhancements over its predecessor.
