There are only a handful of system-on-chip companies in the ecosystem. With Tensor, Google is signalling where it believes development should be happening. With the launch of the Tensor G3 inside the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, and Google expected to lean further into the use of AI and ML in software and demonstrate their benefits to the consumer, those companies will be expected to offer silicon that can deliver similar experiences.
Then there’s Android. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will be the first handsets to launch with Android 14 out of the box; other manufacturers will follow in short order, presumably when the Android Open Source Project’s version 14 has a full release after a number of delays over the last few months.
This week, Google will introduce its new Pixel smartphone and accessory lineup. The Pixel 8 Pro is anticipated to make a significant impact on both the Android smartphone market as a whole and the Pixel brand. Yes, Google wants the phone to be a success, but these mobile devices are about more than just market share.
Making the legendary “damn fine smartphone” is the first step since, without one, no one will give Google a chance.
Sunday, October 1st, update: More information about the hardware is being released ahead of Wednesday’s launch, including a series of advertisements for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro leaked by the respected @MysteryLupin.
How the Google Pixel 8 Pro Will Revolutionize smartphones
The movies demonstrate how simple it is to switch to a Pixel for the general population. A few cover particular topics, but the hero video highlights the aspects Google wants users to pay attention to.
With the slogan “Switch over, don’t start over,” it begins by demonstrating how simple switching to a Pixel is. Texts and messages, contacts, music, and movies are all moved over.
This “your data is safe” portion is followed by the sweet stuff, in which Google lists all of the many camera functions, many of which are powered by artificial intelligence (AI). These include the Real Tone visual representation, the new Best Take tool, which enables the creation of composite images to swap out faces for better shots, and the already-existing Magic Eraser tool to delete undesired portions of a photo.
And each of these is mentioned specifically in relation to Google AI. Beyond “buy these phones,” Mountain View has a message to spread.
Monday, October 2nd, update: It’s not a big surprise that the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro have appeared on Geekbench, the internet’s preferred benchmarking website, given that the launch is only a few days away. The results for the two new smartphones’ chipsets are more of a well-documented guide than an exact measurement when it comes to a device’s capability.
The Tensor G3 scored more than many had anticipated, and it is comparable to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 score, while operating at a slower clock speed, indicating a more effective chip design. Comparing the single-core and multi-core scores of the Pixel 8 Pro to those of the other flagship devices, the score of 1760/4442 is significantly lower than the ones of the Galaxy S23 Ultra (1880/4981) and the iPhone 15 Pro Max (2882/7140).
However, Tensor chips have never been about pure performance; rather, they have tended to focus on demonstrating a certain AI toolset on the hardware, with all of the benefits that entails.
The present hardware for the Pixel range was derived from the Pixel 6 after the Pixel line underwent multiple design changes. The main change, though, has been Google’s move away from Qualcomm’s different Snapdragon system-on-chips and toward its own creation. The Tensor chipset has been designed to facilitate computational operations that happen on the device rather than being sent to the cloud, particularly for AI and machine learning.
