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You can expect the Pixel 10 in 2025 to be the first powered by a fully customized Google Tensor chip

By Alan Friedman

Published: Jul 07, 2023, 10:07 AM

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You can expect the Pixel 10 in 2025 to be the first powered by a fully customized Google Tensor chip

If you're waiting for the release of the first Pixel handset to employ a chipset "fully customized by Google," you'll have to wait for the Tensor G5 which will be built by TSMC and manufactured by the foundry in 2025. The Tensor G5 should be ready to power the 2025 Pixel 10 series. According to the information in The Information, the original plan called for Google to manufacture its first fully customized Pixel chipset by 2024 (more on that below).

Instead of using the fully customized silicon for next year's Pixel 9 series, Google will continue to do what it has been doing since 2021's Pixel 6 line which means sticking with the partially customized chips it designs with Samsung. The Tensor G5 will be manufactured using TSMC's 3nm process node and carry the codename "Laguna." The 2025 "Laguna" chip will also use an advanced packaging technology that Apple uses to keep its chips thin and energy-efficient.

The report blames some of the delays on Google's propensity to divide work on the Tensor chip between the U.S. and India. Most of Google's silicon engineers work in India and a former Google chip executive says that the unit has been impacted by high turnover which means that the sector has not been a stable one for Google even though it is a critical one. Prior to the Pixel 6 series, Pixel phones were usually powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC.

The first Google Tensor chip is introduced by Rick Osterloh

The former Google executive also said that the unit wasn't sure that Google was ready to spend the big bucks it would take to build custom chipsets considering that the Pixel is not yet selling in big numbers. Bloomberg reported that by last October, 27.6 million Pixels had been purchased since the line started in 2016. Samsung sold more than 9 times that figure, and Apple 8 times that number, in 2022 alone.

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The report noted that in 2022 Google was unable to provide TSMC with the design for what could have been its first fully customized Tensor chipset, codenamed "Redondo," in time to beat the deadline for trial production. As a result, Google will not have a fully customized chipset for the 2024 Pixel series. The aforementioned former Google executive says that the "Redondo" chip will be produced as a test chip that will help Google engineers design the Tensor G5 "Laguna."

When it comes to Pixel chips, Google hopes to divorce itself from Samsung completely by 2025. It will still license CPU cores and GPUs from Arm as there are no plans to deviate from that course for now. Arm dominates the area of chip architecture and it might be a while, if ever, before Google gets involved in developing custom CPU cores for Pixel devices,

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.