Google Hides Pixel 10 Pro's Biggest Upgrade

Forbes

6 days ago

Pixel 9 Pro XL
Ahead of the summer launch of the Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro, Google has secured a critical part of the Pixel's future.
According to reporting on Digitimes, Google's partnership with TSMC to fabricate its Tensor chips for 'the next three to five years' which would ensure TSMC's silicon powering the Pixel range out to the Pixel 14.
The Google-designed Tensor chipsets are one of the key differentiators between the Pixel smartphones and the Android-powered competition. Where the latter tend to broadly focus on using Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Series, Google has kept the Tensor series to itself.
The Tensor is not pitched as having 'ultimate power', and it will lose out if you put the specs in a head-to-head. The focus has always been on making it the best day-to-day experience since the first Tesor launched alongside the Pixel 6 family.
When the Pixel 8 family turned up, the Tensor design accommodated a new approach to mobile. Google moved the Tensor to support generative AI with faster routines and more efficient operation with code hardwired into the chipset. It's an approach that other manufacturers have adopted, yet the close relationship between hardware and software provides the Pixel with a unique advantage. It's the closest the Android world has to the relationship between Apple's iPhone, iOS and Apple Silicon mix of hardware and software.
The Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro smartphones will be the first to use Tensor chipsets manufactured by TSMC. The Pixel 6 through Pixel 9 families—all designed by Google—were manufactured by Samsung. Many will be on the lookout for unexpected issues when the chipset is rolled out at scale.
It's worth noting that TSM will switch the Tensor over to its own 3nm process, which will, by its nature, offer more performance with less demand on battery life.
Google is likely hoping that the move from a Samsung Tensor to a TSMC Tensor will be a relatively invisible one.
There will be natural performance gains from moving to 3nm and the general lifting of the entire package through Moore's Law, but it is unlikely to be heavily advertised.
Google's focus when launching the Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro will undoubtedly be around the advances it has made in mobile AI through the Gemini AI assistant, the use of generative AI to support creatives, and the ability of AI routines to offer more support throughout Android. The true measure of success of TSMC's Tensors will be how well they support the AI ambitions of the Pixel's parent over the next five years.
Now read the latest details on the Pixel 10 Pro pricing...