Google announces Pixel 6 with Google Tensor SOC

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First up, one of the most exciting aspects of the Pixel 6 is the inclusion of the Google "Whitechapel" SoC. This is Google's first in-house SoC that will serve as the main chip powering the phone. It represents Google dumping Qualcomm as the SoC manufacturer and taking a more Apple-like vertical approach to its phone hardware. The chip is officially called "Google Tensor," and it's described by the company as "the brand new chip designed by Google, custom-made for Pixel."


"The highlight of Tensor is that it can process Google’s most powerful AI and ML models directly on #Pixel6. You’ll see a transformed experience for the camera, speech recognition, and many other Pixel 6 features," Google said in its posts today. "Speech recognition is another foundational technology where you will see a huge improvement in #Pixel6. Google Tensor allows us to make big leaps in: Voice commands, Translation, Captioning, & Dictation."
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https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...with-the-companys-tensor-soc-revamped-camera/

So maybe dedicated ML processing units, like Apple's Neural Engine?

Be interesting to see how their CPU and GPU cores perform.
 
im looking forward to the the teardown and stress tests
I'm really curious with their cooling solution as they say they engineered it for sustained performance.

not gonna buy it tho, as its not available in my country and its still too expensive. maybe i will buy it after Pixel 8 was released.

Currently using Pixel 1 hahahahaha
 
Their camera software with modern hardware should be fantastic. Review of that part should appear Monday.

I'd be tempted, but even the screen on the 6 is too big. Turns out a can only manage so many inches comfortably and the 5 is the perfect size for me. :oops:
 
cheapchips said:
Their camera software with modern hardware should be fantastic. Review of that part should appear Monday.

I'd be tempted, but even the screen on the 6 is too big. Turns out a can only manage so many inches comfortably and the 5 is the perfect size for me. :oops:
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For me, tall screen issue is not on usability (thanks to software design and gestures) but when trying to crouch while that tall phone is in pants pocket.

The phone will dig to my body. Ouch ouch.

For usability, I simply using softwares with bottom menus, and using gestures to pull the Notification bar.
 
orangpelupa said:
For me, tall screen issue is not on usability (thanks to software design and gestures) but when trying to crouch while that tall phone is in pants pocket.
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Yeah, same here. My prior phone was the same size as the 6 and I was fine with it in use. In pocket it was a bit much and the usability on the 5 is better. Definately a sweet spot for me until folding phones stop being crap and expensive.
 
No one pointed to @Nebuchadnezzar 's article yet?

https://www.anandtech.com/show/17032/tensor-soc-performance-efficiency


Looks like it's mostly a Samsung Exynos SoC with Google's NPU, ISP and AV1 decoder block inside, and a couple of odd choices like going with Cortex A76 cores instead of A78. I guess the A78 is larger and Google wanted to save some die area?
End result is a poorer multithreaded performance despite having two X1 cores instead of Exynos' single X1.

The GPU results are mixed. The Mali G78 GPU is considerably wider at 20 cores and in some/most cases it will peak above the 14 core of the Exynos 2100, but then in sustained performance if falls behind the latter. @Nebuchadnezzar mentions the fact that Mali G78's L2 cache doesn't scale with more cores so it might be bandwidth starved, but it also looks like there's more frequency throttling on Google Tensor.

In the end it looks like, Google's IP blocks aside, this SoC ended up being a poorer design than Exynos 2100.


One question that I have is if the next Google Tensor chip could borrow the RDNA2 mGPU from Exynos 2200. Is the deal only applicable to Samsung-branded SoCs or can Samsung LSI use AMD's IP for a future semicustom contract?
 
Form a consumer point of view I don't think Tensor's level of performance matters too much. Its competitive enough with flagship SoCs given the price of the Pixel 6's.

I wonder how closely they'll stick to Exynos with Tensor 2. They could have an AMD GPU if they're on a parallel roadmap.
 
Samsung planning to go with more customization where Google claims to has is their own designs,
I like the Samsung over Pixel 6
 
I ordered a pixel 6 as replacement for my aging OnePlus 3. Should arrive sometime next month. I guess coming from a 5 year old phone it can only be much better. As far as I can tell for the money it's about as good as it's going to get. Especially around where I live you don't have much choice other than a pixel or iPhone if you want a Sim free phone.
 
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