Google Pixel 9 may not offer substantial upgrades over Pixel 8
The Google Pixel 9 series is the company’s upcoming flagship smartphone series that is set to debut on August 13. Ahead of the official launch, leaked benchmark scores of the handsets’ Tensor G4 chipset suggest that it may not offer much of an improvement in terms of power, but could see a positive impact on efficiency. Notably, this development comes just a day after the Pixel 9 series’ storage and charging specs were reportedly leaked.
Google Pixel 9 chipset
According to a report According to Android Authority, the Pixel 9’s Tensor G4 chipset will come with eight cores in a 4+3+1 arrangement. This means that it could feature four Cortex-A520 efficiency cores, three Cortex-A720 mid cores, and a single Cortex-X4 primary core. This arrangement would be different compared to the Tensor G3, which had nine cores in a 4+4+1 arrangement. It is speculated that this change is an attempt to increase the chipset’s thermal efficiency.
Google is said to be using the new ARMv9.2 cores, all of which have higher clock speeds compared to their predecessors. However, it would only have a minor impact on performance. According to the report, Geekbench scores of the Pixel 9 Pro XL over the Pixel 8 Pro suggest an 11 percent improvement in single-core and a 3 percent increase in multi-core scores.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL reportedly achieved a single-core score of 1,950, compared to 1,761 for the Pixel 8 Pro. The two phones’ multi-core scores came in at 4,655 and 4,523 respectively.
Another report that came out in April suggested that Google’s upcoming smartphone lineup will come equipped with the Exynos Modem 5400, manufactured by Samsung’s LSI division. The upgrade would bring support for satellite connectivity to the Pixel 9 series handsets. It is further suggested that this new modem will offer up to 50 percent better power consumption than the modem used on the Pixel 8. Considering the efficiency issues that previous Pixel smartphones, such as the Pixel 8, have been associated with the modems in the past, this upgrade could potentially have a positive impact on the battery life of the upcoming smartphones.
