Pixel 9’s Tensor G4 is suddenly sounding more interesting than before

A few days ago, a report indicated that Google's next in-house chip, the Tensor G4, could disappoint. It's too early to draw conclusions, however, as the Pixel 9, which will likely be the first phone with the chip, is months away and the chipset is currently under development. Still, the leaked benchmark results weren't a good first look, but a leak allayed fears that the chip would be a disappointment.

X leak @OreXda claims that the Tensor G4 will be based on the Exynos 2400. Previous Tensor chips were also based on Samsung's Exynos chipsets and Google apparently needs another year to build a fully custom chip.

This is apparently not the case. The Tensor G4 will be an eight-core chip with one Cortex Additionally, the chip would have the Mali G715 GPU, instead of the AMD RDNA3-based Xclipse 940.

The Tensor G3, which powers the Pixel 8, has nine cores, which is an unconventional configuration. Most chipmakers, including Qualcomm, stick with eight cores, so the G4 isn't a downgrade because it has one fewer core.

Google will use the latest cores from ARM, which will run at higher clock speeds, so we can expect a nice speed bump. Additionally, if the chip takes inspiration from the Exynos 2400, it will likely be based on Samsung's third-generation 4nm process. Like the Exynos 2400, it will likely use wafer-level packaging technology, which should help the Pixel 9 run cooler.

So while the Tensor G4 won't be as snappy as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 or even the Exynos 2400, it will be a decent improvement over the G3, which is all that matters.