I thought so, too, and I was waiting for the Pixel 10 series to land with excitement and a certain level of hype. Well, not Jimmy Fallon-level excitement, but still, I was pretty keen on watching the Made by Google event, not just as a journalist, but as a fan, too.
To be honest, I found most of the upgrades, or the lack thereof, bewildering and a bit boring. At least in the beginning. But then it hit me. Smartphone innovation lies elsewhere nowadays, and Google made sure to tweak the Pixel 10 where it really mattered.
There's one feature that will help the Pixel family take the fight to the big boys and challenge Apple and Samsung in the years to come. It's not the new camera features, or the PixelSnap accessories, or even the AI magic on board, although the last one is a consequence of that one core feature.
It's the new Tensor G5 chipset. And before you throw the latest Geekbench scores in my metaphorical face, let me explain. There's something deeper going on.
CPU and GPU scores don't paint the full picture anymore
When we talk about smartphone performance, most people think of benchmarks such as Geekbench, 3DMark, or AnTuTu. These have been kind of an industry standard and go-to metrics even for the companies themselves.
The fact of the matter, however, is that these metrics, especially the CPU and GPU ones, often don't tell us much about the real-life performance of a smartphone. There are many reasons for this.
First, app developers try to optimize their products to run on as many devices as possible. It's just the business model; more devices generally means more profit. There are almost no apps that are designed to take full advantage of the processing power of a flagship smartphone, barring some games.
Second, the long software support cycles the big trio is currently doing (Apple, Samsung, and Google) increase the pressure to make the software compatible and run smoothly on older devices.
We have two- to three-year-old phones from these brands performing consistently and on par with the latest models. But if you take a look at the synthetic benchmarks, the scores of these older devices are 30-40, sometimes 50%, lower than the scores of the latest flagships. They don't feel twice as slow, though. What gives?
The truth is that smartphones are (and have been for some time now) plenty fast when it comes to regular CPU and GPU tasks.
There's a new metric that's still under the radar (even though companies are trying to push it into the open) that is going to be much more important in the future.
Tensor G5's TPU—what it is and what it does?
I know this is quite technical, but let's try to skip the boring stuff and get to why it really matters. When language models (LLMs) became a thing a couple of years ago, there was a new demand for a different type of computation.
LLMs use neural networks and machine learning to do their magic, and these require a lot of power on regular CPU and GPU units. Google (and other companies) started to develop a specialized silicon, optimized to do these computations.
Google's version of that silicon is called TPU (tensor processing unit) and, in fact, has been a core component of the company's data centers, especially after the rise of Gemini. These TPUs outperform normal CPUs and GPUs when it comes to AI tasks, sometimes by orders of magnitude.
Back in May 2024, Google announced the sixth version of its Cloud TPU, called Trillium, aimed at some heavy AI lifting in Google's data centers. Fast forward to the Tensor G5 and the Pixel 10 family.
What's important here is that Google has baked some of that TPU expertise and magic inside the Tensor chip. It's not only capable of on-device AI tasks, but it performs much better communicating with its bigger siblings inside Google's data centers, as they share the same algorithms and instructions.
60% increase in TPU performance is huge
I know I've said benchmarks don't matter, but this one's different. We all saw the AI part of the Made by Google presentation and all the new stuff Pixels can do. Some of it was glittered over a bit, but it generally gives us a glimpse into the future.
The new Tensor G5 can run Gemini Nano on-device, including the new Magic Cue feature, the Voice Translate functionality, and Pixel Journal as well.
AI is changing the way we interact with and use our phones. And while high Geekbench CPU scores or high 3DMark scores might not translate into real-life advantages, a 60% increase in TPU performance should be, and will most likely be, felt on the new Pixels.
Smartphones are quickly moving away from just opening, running, and closing apps to performing these complex machine learning computations, and Google is making sure Pixel phones are future-proof in that regard.
Pixel phones built for the future
Some of you might point out that Snapdragon chips have their own dedicated neural network processing unit (NPU), and Apple silicon does too. There's a subtle difference, but it might play out in Google's favor in the long run.
Most Android phones are adopting Gemini as a go-to LLM, or at least they have it on board alongside whatever on-device model they are running. Even though Samsung is trying to push its own AI system (Galaxy AI, which uses Nvidia silicon in the cloud), Gemini is now integrated into most of the Galaxy lineup.
Apple is still lagging behind with Apple Intelligence and relies on ChatGPT help for most of the workload. There's a strong possibility for Gemini to become the predominant LLM on smartphones, and if this happens, Pixel phones will have a huge advantage.
The Tensor G5 and its successors will run Gemini much more efficiently, especially on-device. Snapdragon and Apple silicon might not have the same advantage, especially if Gemini wins the AI war, and even though those chips are faster on paper, in the long run Tensor silicon has better prospects.
I know there are a lot of "if"s in this article, but the writing's on the wall. I think Google has placed its chips on the right number (pun intended) and will reap the benefits in the future.
What do you think about it? Do you think Pixel phones are a real threat to iPhones and Galaxy phones due to their AI potential, or will Samsung and Apple get their game together and retaliate?