In the general perception of domestic consumers, there seem to be only two mainstream options when choosing Android mobile phone chips: MediaTek Dimensity and Qualcomm Snapdragon. However, there are actually other options on the market, such as Samsung Orion, Unisoc T series, and Google Tensor. Recently, Google officially launched its latest Pixel 9 series smartphones, including Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold, equipped with the new Tensor G4 chip.
Pixel 9 series smartphones
The Tensor G4 is a chip that Google built in partnership with Samsung for the new Pixel 9 series. Meanwhile, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 Mobile Platform is manufactured by TSMC and is expected to power most high-end Android phones going forward. In addition to the different manufacturers, there are also key differences in the specifications of the two chips. As the latest products from Google and Samsung, let’s see if the Tensor G4 can stand up to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 Mobile Platform and become the top Android phone chip.
design
In terms of design, Tensor G4 is built with Samsung’s 4nm process. The CPU is an eight-core design, including 1 Cortex-X4 with a frequency of 3.10GHz, 3 Cortex-A720 with a frequency of 2.60GHz, 4 Cortex-A520 with a frequency of 1.92GHz, and the GPU is ARM Mali-G715 (940MHz).
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform will be built using TSMC’s 3nm process. The CPU is an octa-core design, including 2 Cortex-X925 cores with a frequency of 4.2GHz+, 6 Cortex-A725 cores with a frequency of 2.8GHz, and the GPU is Adreno 760 (935 MHz) with a built-in Hexagon NPU.
From a design perspective, the advantages of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform are very obvious. It not only uses the more advanced TSMC 3nm process, but also has a full large core design.
performance
First, on the AnTuTu platform, information shows that the Google phone equipped with Tensor G4 scored about 1.176 million points on the AnTuTu (V10) platform, including 310,000 points for CPU, 430,000 points for GPU, 199,000 points for Memory, and 226,000 points for UX. On the other hand, the engineering machine of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform scored about 3.133 million points on the AnTuTu (V10) platform, including 700,000 points for CPU, 1.33 million points for GPU, 616,000 points for Memory, and 484,000 points for UX. The gap between the two is huge.
AnTuTu platform running scores of Tensor G4 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4
The test results of another benchmark platform, Geekbench, are also similar to those of AnTuTu. The test results of Geekbench 6 show that the single-core score of Tensor G4 is 1950 points and the multi-core score is 4655 points, while the single-core score of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform is 2884 points and the multi-core score is 8840 points. Although the gap in the test results of Geekbench is not as huge as that of AnTuTu tablet, it is also a gap of several generations. The single-core score of Tensor G4 is only slightly better than that of Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, and lower than that of Snapdragon 8s Gen 3.
Advantages/Disadvantages
According to current information, the frequency of the Mali-G715 GPU of the Tensor G4 (940 MHz) is higher than the frequency of the Adreno 760 GPU of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform (930 MHz). However, the running score data of the AnTuTu platform shows that the GPU performance of the Tensor G4 does not have an advantage over the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform. Therefore, in the use scenario of running large mobile games, the performance of mobile phones equipped with the Tensor G4 may not be as good as that of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform models.
Since the GPU frequency of the Tensor G4 is slightly higher and it is a custom-designed SoC specifically for Google’s Pixel smartphones, it may be more efficient in AI functions. The Tensor G4 is also equipped with a dedicated Titan M2 coprocessor, which further enhances the privacy and security of the Pixel phone, which will be the advantages of the Tensor G4 and the Google Pixel 9 series.
Tensor G4 VS Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4
In terms of process, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform uses the more advanced TSMC 3nm process, while the Tensor G4 uses Samsung’s older 4nm process node. More advanced process nodes usually mean higher energy efficiency and better performance. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform may have obvious advantages in energy efficiency and other aspects. In addition, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform also has a more advanced instruction set, which means it can perform various computing tasks faster and more efficiently.
According to leaked information, the CPU main frequency of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform is 4.2GHz, while the CPU main frequency of Tensor G4 is 3.1GHz. This means that Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform has a clear advantage in processing speed.
Summarize
Obviously, there is a large performance gap between Google Tensor G4 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform. Considering that Tensor G4 uses Samsung’s 4nm process, this may lead to a further widening of the gap in actual use experience. Of course, the devices equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform have not yet been officially released, so we cannot determine the true performance of this latest flagship product of Qualcomm.
