Google's Tensor G5 chip for Pixel 10 will be a modest upgrade, but camera tech gets a boost

For the upcoming Google Pixel 10 series, the company has been reported to be switching from Samsung to TSMC for its Tensor G5 processor. Which is great news, seeing how great the latest chips from Qualcomm and Apple have been. But we have some bad news, thanks to a leak from Android Authority.

Apparently, the Tensor G5 is going to be very similar to the Tensor G4. Google is using a mix of in-house designed and off-the-shelf IP for this new processor. Parts of this chip are built by companies like ARM, Imagination Technologies, VeriSilicon and Synopsys.

For the CPU, Google is continuing to use ARM Cortex, which is not a surprise at all. It’s reportedly the same cores that are being used in the G4. And on the GPU side, Google has opted for an Imagination Technologies DXT. That replaces the ARM Mali GPU that Google had been using in previous Tensor chips.

Google has also carried over the TPU, DSP, Audio Processor, and Memory Compressor. However, Google is ditching its own custom AV1 codec.

Google will utilize its own fully customized ISP

Cameras have always been super important to Google since the Pixel line started 10 years ago. And a big part of that is the ISP or Image Signal Processor. Previously, Google was using a Samsung ISP with some custom Google blocks. But this year, it will be a fully custom Google ISP. Which has us excited to see what this could change in the Pixel 10. As Google has heavily optimized its cameras for Pixel, since the beginning.

While Samsung allowed Google to use a lot of their own components, it did allow Google to sort of test and see what worked, in terms of custom components. And now with the move to TSMC, we’re seeing more and more components being fully customized by Google. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a fully customized chipset from Google in the future, but that is likely a long way off.