Google’s Tensor G2 chip gives a modest speed boost to the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro
It's a minor upgrade over last year's custom system-on-a-chip.
With a new batch of Pixel phones comes a new chip at the heart of them all: Google's Tensor G2. Like last year's Tensor, the company's first custom mobile chip, it's an AI-infused powerhouse built specifically around the Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro's and Pixel Tablet's new features. It'll also be joined with a revamped Titan M2 chip, which deals with on-device security.
On stage during its Pixel launch event, Google VP Brian Rakowski said the Tensor G2 will power the Pixel 7's voice capabilities, including faster Assistant queries, as well as voice translation, voice typing, and more. He noted that voice typing is around two and a half times faster than using the keyboard, making it a feature that more people are relying on. You'll even be able to visually describe emojis, like asking for the "heart eyes cat," while voice typing.
On the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, the Tensor G2 also enables Photo Unblur, which can sharpen out of focus photos, as well as Super-Res Zoom, which digitally blows up photos without losing much quality (it also benefits from the phone's new 50MP cameras). One nice bonus: You'll also be able to touch up older photos using all of the Tensor G2's capabilities. As for other features, the Tensor G2 lets Night Sight photos process twice as quickly, and it's behind Cinematic Blur mode, which can artfully direct how your videos are focused. Sure, it's not as groundbreaking as the original, but the Tensor G2 shows that Google is still committed to a strong cohesion between the Pixel phone's software and hardware.
The Tensor G2 chip features two "Big" CPU cores, two "Medium" cores and four "Small" cores, like its predecessor. Clock speeds are only a hair higher — literally just 5MHz and 10MHz across the Big and Medium cores — and Google is sticking with the Arm Cortex X1 and A55 chips with the Big and Small cores. The only major update? The Tensor G2's Medium core now uses an Arm A78 instead of an A76. Google says the G2 is also running a "next-generation" TPU AI accelerator.
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