Google Has Announced Its First 3nm Chipset, The Tensor G5, Alongside The Pixel 10 Series; Company Claims A 34 Percent Average Performance Increase Over The Tensor G4, No RT Support & More

The Tensor G5 is not just Google’s first SoC that has been mass produced on the 3nm manufacturing process, but is the first from the technology giant that is the product of TSMC’s fabrication technology and not Samsung. Fortunately, the improved lithography is not the only change the company has introduced and thankfully, this chipset powers every Pixel 10 member. Here is everything you need to know about the latest silicon.

The upgraded efficiency of the Tensor G5 means that the Pixel 10 lineup can enjoy a battery life increase of several hours, along with a significant boost in AI performance

The CPU configuration of the Tensor G5 was not provided in detail, but Android Authority reports that during Google’s briefing, the company mentioned that the new 3nm SoC features a ‘1 + 5 + 2’ cluster, making it a significant change over last year’s ‘1 + 3 + 4’ specification. Unfortunately, we have yet to learn about the CPU clock speeds, but when the Pixel 10 Pro Fold was spotted in Geekbench 6, we reported that the fastest core operated at 3.78GHz, with the medium cores sporting a clock speed of 3.05GHz, and the slowest featuring speeds of 2.25GHz.

Google claims that, on average, the Tensor G5 CPU is 34 percent faster than the Tensor G4, but failed to mention whether these improvements are in the single-core or multi-core department. Unfortunately, we do not expect Google’s latest silicon to have the upper hand over the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Dimensity 9400+, or the A18 Pro in raw performance, and neither should you. As for the GPU, Google was somewhat mum on the details, but it did mention that the Tensor G5 was equipped with an updated graphics processor IP.

Thankfully, previous reports stated that the CPU was paired with an Imagination Technologies DXT-48-1536 unit, though we still recommend readers to await confirmation. Unfortunately, Google has trimmed some features from the Tensor G5 GPU, as it lacks ray tracing support, giving the competition a stronger edge, at least in mobile gaming, which has a slow adoption rate. Of course, this unveiling would not have been complete without Google’s involvement in AI, with the company claiming that the chipset’s TPU is up to 60 percent more powerful than the unit present in the Tensor G4.

The more interesting addition of the Tensor G5 is that it features Google’s ‘Matryoshka’ transformer model with two billion effective parameters. In short, the Gemini Nano model running on the chipset is 260 percent faster and twice as efficient as the Tensor G4 for tasks you will carry out on your Pixel 10 locally. Google also states that the token window has increased from 12,000 on the Tensor G4 to 32,000 on the Tensor G5, which is equivalent to 100 screenshots. Coming to the ISP, the improvements made help to substantially reduce blur from low-light videos, with 10-bit HDR added as the default for 1080p and 4K 30FPS video recording.

As for the 8K local video recording, the Pixel 10 range has been omitted from this feature, but users can still take advantage of Google’s cloud-based Video Boost. As for the 5G modem, the latest flagships still rely on the Exynos 5400 for wireless connectivity. If these upgrades appear attractive to you, you will be happy to learn that the Pixel 10 family is available to pre-order from Amazon, starting from $799, with the expected release date being August 28. Best of all, the online retailer is giving you a $100 gift card for the base model, with the freebie increasing to a $200 gift card for the Pixel 10 Pro or Pixel 10 Pro XL. Of course, we saved the best for last, and if you are willing to spend top dollar on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, you will be rewarded with a mouth-watering $300 gift card, but you will have to fork over $1,799 for the flagship.

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