“Googles Tensor SoC is a secret Samsung Exynos chipset under the skin”

For four years, Google’s Pixel team worked on its own Tensor chipset, the company reported in its coverage of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. The company is thus for the first time moving away from the chipsets supplied by Qualcomm. Instead, Google seems to have stepped into the Samsung Exynos marriage boat. Rumors indicate that the Tensor SoC is a secret Exynos chipset.

Google Tensor SoC

For years, Google relied on “Qualcomm’s expertise” to bake chips for its Pixel phones. With the upcoming Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, that will come to an end. Google developed its own chipset that has to compete with the chips from Qualcomm. The search giant released few specific details about the chipset. Google did mention that its chipset will deliver strong performance in the field of artificial intelligence.

Actually an Exynos chipset?

Official information about the chip manufacturer responsible for producing the Tensor SoC is therefore still missing. Earlier rumors about Google’s ‘Whitechapel’ chipset showed that Google may have relied on Samsung Semiconductors’ chip expertise for the Tensor chipset. New details about the Google Tensor SoC seem to confirm these earlier rumors.

Samsung’s Exynos department is said to have developed a chipset with the ‘Whitechapel’ code name, GalaxyClub reports. Specifically, it would be the Exynos 9855, an Exynos chipset that has not yet been officially unveiled. Previously, this model number appeared in rumors of AMD GPUs to be included in new generations of Exynos chipsets; It is now known that the Exynos 9855 will not get an AMD GPU. This new graphics chip remains exclusive to the Exynos 9925, which will be released next year.

Samsung Exynos 2100+

The model number of the alleged Tensor SoC developed by the Exynos team is in line with other high-end chipsets from Samsung. For example, Samsung’s own Exynos 2100 chipset, which can be found in the Galaxy S21 series, carries model number Exynos 9840. This may indicate that Google’s SoC will deliver performance comparable to the Samsung Exynos 2100 chipset. However, that is not yet a foregone conclusion. For example, the chipset could also deliver improved performance over the Exynos 2100, given the higher model number.

If the forthcoming Google Tensor SoC is indeed based on the Exynos 9855, then the South Korean chip manufacturer may have had a much bigger stake in the chipset than the search giant would have you believe. What do you think the Google Tensor SoC may be a secret Exynos chipset from Samsung? Do you think Google will surprise us with the performance of the chip? Be sure to put your thoughts on (digital) paper in the comments at the bottom of this article.