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The Pixel 5 was a huge disappointment last year in terms of performance. Google chose to forgo Qualcomm’s best possible Snapdragon processor and instead use a mid-range chip. It’s a great chip for cheaper Pixel phones, but not the flagship device. Fortunately, Google has come to its senses this year, bringing the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro back to flagship status. This includes a major overhaul and a key component never seen on other Google phones: a custom system on a chip (SoC) that is expected to support the A15 Bionic inside the iPhone 13. And the first benchmarks for the SoC Tensor offer good news for the Pixel 6 series.
Google’s Tensor chip
Google quietly unveiled the Pixel 6 series in early August, a move that allowed it to beat the growing number of rumors and control the narrative. And Google has confirmed all the previous rumors about the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. The company showed off the new designs and revealed some of the key specs. This included the new Tensor custom chip which has appeared in various rumors dating back to 2020.
We didn’t have a trade name for the Tensor chip at the time, but rumors say the new SoC will be a collaboration between Samsung and Google. At the time, we assumed that Google would use the all-new Arm Cortex-X1 benchmark design in Tensor, like every other 2021 flagship chip.
A few days ago, a benchmark result revealed that the Pixel 6 series will feature an unusual 8-core SoC arrangement. The Tensor will have a 2-2-4 design with two Cortex-X1 chips, two Cortex-A76s, and four Cortex-A55 chips. The inclusion of two X1 chips may sound exciting, but the A76 is an older generation chip
The Pixel 6 Pro benchmark
The Snapdragon 888, which powers flagship phones like the Galaxy S21, features a basic 1-3-4 design. This includes a powerful Cortex-X1 core, three Cortex-A78 performance cores, and four Cortex-A55 efficiency cores.
That said, the Tensor chip in the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro should offer comparable performance to that of the Snapdragon 888 and its Samsung counterpart, the Exynos 2100. At least that’s what a brand new Geekbench test score indicates. 5.
The Tensor chip exceeded 1034 points in single-core tests and 2756 in multi-core tests. The results are almost in line with what you would expect from the Galaxy S21 SoCs.
But, like the Snapdragon 888 and the Exynos 2100, the Google Tensor chip can’t touch the A15 Bionic that powers iPhone 13 models this year.
Even so, Tensor’s performance is great news. Google is trying to make the Pixel 5 forget. Benchmarks alone don’t tell the whole story, but neither should they be ignored. To put it in perspective, here’s how the Pixel 5 compares to the iPhone 13 in terms of performance.
The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro scores are all the more exciting given that this is Google’s first custom SoC. Google is just getting started, and hopefully it can raise the bar even higher.
The Pixel 6 is expected to launch in the coming weeks, with Google expected to announce its fall hardware event soon.
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