The Pixel 9's Tensor G4 might be the least interesting thing about Google's new phones (2024)

Google's Pixel smartphone lineup made a strong comeback with the launch of the Pixel 6 in 2021. The phone stood out for its impressive camera quality and AI features, and things have only gotten better with the Pixel 7 and Pixel 8 in the following years. However, Google's in-house Tensor SoC has been among the weakest links in all Pixel phones launched in the last few years. It has become infamous for its poor efficiency and performance, which is a few generations behind the competition. If you were hoping the Pixel 9's Tensor G4 chip would turn things around, you might be in for major disappointment.

With the Tensor G3, Google switched to a 9-core CPU cluster with newer ARM cores, leading to a decent performance and efficiency improvement over the Tensor G2. The company will reportedly take a different approach with the upcoming Tensor G4. It will again switch back to an 8-core CPU configuration in a 4 + 3 + 1 cluster with new ARM v9.2 cores.

Android Authority claims the Cortex-X4 will be the big core, with 3x Cortex-A920 'mid' cores and 4x Cortex-A520 cores. That's one less mid-core compared to the Tensor G3. Based on early Geekbench scores, the report estimates the upcoming Tensor G4 should deliver about 11% faster single-core performance, with multicore only getting about a 3% bump.

Given one lesser 'mid' core, the disappointing multicore performance should not be surprising. On a positive note, though, fewer CPU cores means the Tensor G4 should consume less power and have better thermal performance than the Pixel 8's Tensor G3.

On the GPU front, the improvements will apparently be even more modest. Google will stick to the same Mali-G715 GPU that currently does duty inside the Pixel 8. It will supposedly only get a clock speed bump from 890Mhz to 940Mhz. The company might add additional GPU cores, but its full configuration is not known right now. The Pixel 8 houses a 7-core GPU, and an extra core or two can help bring a decent performance bump.

The Exynos modem inside Tensor SoCs has also been criticized for its poor network performance and high power consumption. With the Tensor G4, Google will purportedly switch to Samsung's newest Exynos 5400 modem. One of the publication's sources claims the new baseband has "up to 50%" better power consumption than the Pixel 8's Exynos 5300 modem.

Tensor G4's custom IP blocks might not get any upgrades at all

More than their performance, Tensor SoCs are special for their Google-designed custom IP blocks that help speed up many AI and ML tasks. Sadly, with the Tensor G4, the company will purportedly not upgrade any of these IP blocks. The Edge TPU reportedly carries the same "rio" codename found on the Tensor G3, with the AV1 encoder/decoder also remaining unchanged. It's supposedly the same story with all other IP blocks.

Worse, Google will apparently use the same FOPLP packaging for these chips instead of switching to a newer packaging from Samsung for better thermal performance.

Based on the report, it appears the Pixel 9's Tensor G4 will not pack any meaningful upgrades and could bring even more modest improvements than initially expected. Google seems all set to switch to its custom CPU design and TSMC's fabrication node with the Tensor G5 in 2025, so we should hopefully see a bigger performance and efficiency jump with the Pixel 10 next year. But for this year, you should keep your expectations in check.