An Introduction to Google Tensor

Get ready to welcome a new name into the chip game in 2021 – Google Tensor. We’re used to hearing about Snapdragon or Exynos, or Apple’s A15, and Google Tensor is here to play for keeps.

"Chip" can be a bit of an unfamiliar concept for a lot of people – what is it, what does it do?

The chip on your phone is the command centre that makes sure that what you tell your phone to do actually happens, and sometimes has connections between different systems to make sure they talk to each other really well, or balance the load of battery used, or any number of things.

Technically, Google Tensor is a SoC (system-on-a-chip), so you’ve got an all in-one control centre for a lot of different systems, often including video, audio, memory, processing, CPU, your 4G or 5G modems and security.

And most of the time, these chips are probably smaller than your thumbnail – and that tiny chip is the brain of your phone. So it’s important – and it’s important, too, that in 2021 Google has released its own chip and is bringing it to Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.

How did Google approach making its own chip? What was the focus?

Google decided to take a step back and look at the big picture – what could they do to help the user? In the modern world, in many ways, your phone is your life – all your stored memories, to-do lists, and your main forms of communication. So Google decided the phone’s tech needed to understand your context, anticipate your needs, and enable you to do things – and even do things for you.

Google’s known for ground-breaking work using AI and machine learning. But there is one place where they had yet to bring these (until 2021) and that’s the smartphone. In their data centres, there’s significant computing to power these innovations.

They needed a chipset that could handle compute-heavy AI and machine learning tasks efficiently and fulfill Google’s vision of what should be possible on Pixel - that's Tensor.

How is this different from other chips on the market?

Tensor is a premium mobile system-on-a-chip, built for how people use their phones today. Real experiences use all components of the chip working efficiently together. So Google ensured the various subsystems inside Tensor work really well together, rather than optimise individual processors for peak performance and benchmarks.

With just software optimisations alone, Pixel 5 delivered a great experience, even on a chip that didn’t win on benchmarks. But with Tensor, the chip is co-designed with the software, which helps unlock amazing new experiences.

For example, Tensor’s powerful CPU (central processing unit, aka, the brain) and GPU (graphics processing unit, which focuses on managing and outputting what you see on your phone) not only ensures that Pixel users get a snappier, faster phone than before, but also enables new computational photography features, such as Motion Mode and Face Unblur.

What will we love about it?

The ability to capture every moment without a second thought as to how it’ll come out.

Almost every subsystem of Google Tensor makes Pixel’s computational photography better. To give you an idea of what this looks like in practice, Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro can now keep subjects in focus even while they’re moving. This requires many algorithms working together to carefully balance auto-exposure, auto white balance and auto focus. Silicon as efficient as Tensor is needed to do all this heavy lifting without eating into your battery life.

Tensor is built for how people use their phones today.

If all this ticks all the boxes for what you’re looking for in a phone, check out Google’s Pixel 6 Pro, or our range of mobile phones at Optus today!