Seen on the last Pixel 6, it seems that the Google Tensor, the newly introduced custom SoC built in-house by the internet giant, the days are already numbered. And it is that as Mishaal Rahman of XDA has shared, he discovered clues about this successor to Tensor in the source code of the Pixel 6 as “GS201”.
For reference, the current Google chip used the model name “GS101” and also had the code name “Whitechapel.” Given the increase, looks like a complete upgrade rather than a progressive step forward, but what that means in practice is still subject to speculation.
The next-gen Google Tensor chip, GS201, is in the works (because of course, what’d you expect?): Https://t.co/oZtKc9E30R
– Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) October 28, 2021
Thus, despite the fact that the current chip is developed on ARM architecture and manufactured by Samsung in 5 nm processes, and a composition in three clusters with seven-core CPUs (two high-performance Cortex-A78, two Cortex-A76 and three Cortex-A55) and an ARM Mali-G78 GPU, the prompt update of this processor comes as no surprise.
And it is that depending on the values or orientation of the tests, the performance of the Google Tensor is better and / or worse than the Snapdragon 888; In addition, some inconsistencies have already been detected in terms of thermal management, which can also affect performance.
The next Tensor finally could be upgraded to newer ARM Cortex-X2Although there might be more interest in seeing the large cores replaced by more recent Cortex-A designs. Heat dissipation seems to be a key strength for the Tensor, at least compared to the Snapdragon 888, though that does imply throttle performance a bit too.
Being a first-gen chip, there is definitely a lot of room for improvement and hopefully Google can play around with the development of the chip to keep the Pixels in the high range of interest in the market.
