The Google Pixel 9 has been tipped to adopt Samsung’s latest 4nm chip processing standard, which could mean Galaxy S24 levels of power.
If there’s one thing the Pixel series has always lacked, it’s the raw performance to go toe-to-toe with its biggest rivals. Google’s custom Tensor chips might have some decent AI smarts, but they’ve always been pretty mediocre in terms of power and efficiency.
There are signs that this could be starting to change, with a new report from South Korea claiming that Google is ready to change things up. According to the Fnnews website, Google will switch to Samsung’s latest 4nm chip manufacturing process for the Tensor G4 in the Pixel 9.
This new process utilises Fan-Out WLP (FOWLP) technology to improve power and efficiency. It’s the same technique that has produced the Exynos 2400 chip that runs the global version of the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus.
Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean performance parity for Google’s take on this chip. What’s more, the Exynos 2400 itself isn’t exactly a runaway leader. We recently placed a UK Galaxy S24 (with the Exynos 2400) up against a US Galaxy S24 (with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3), the latter won handily, particularly in GPU benchmarks.
Even so, adopting a similar process would likely represent progress for Google. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are good, but they fall well short of the Galaxy S23 and iPhone 15 in terms of performance and heat dissipation.