Google recently announced their new flagship line-up, Pixel 6 and 6 pro. The purpose of this post is not to review the phone, but to talk about the beast tucked inside. Google has used their self-designed silicon “Google Tensor” in it.
Well, the chipset is completely new, but the name isn't. Google already uses processors named TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) the OG, which is used to accelerate machine learning workloads specifically. TPU’s have higher core count over the regular CPU or GPU while giving the performance of a single core. They are used in situations requiring matrix calculations and training of an AI model.
Tensor is not just a TPU but it’s a complete chipset inclusive of an octa-core CPU, a whopping 20-core GPU, a TPU as expected, Titan M2 Security chip for security, and a brand-new ISP which should help with live-time HDR. On paper it looks good and competes with all flagship level processors (such as Snapdragon 888, Exynos 2100, Apple’s A15 Bionic) in bench marks too.
But this is not it. The centre of attraction has to be the TPU. You may have heard the phrase "Gets better with time.” Phones typically lose performance and battery life over time but due to TPU, the above statement might be true. Afterall, more information about your daily usage gets the better optimisation that it’ll be able to perform.
This doesn’t mean your phone can live forever. Sadly, the software optimisation can be done but the hardware the phone uses will remain same. But you can remain reassured as Google is providing 4 major software and 5-year security patch updates, which the highest ever promised. So, for at least 5 years your phone will be snappy as ever.
Tensor is capable of a lot more than that, for e.g.- the new pixel has such a great speech to text recognition that it can be preferred over typing, because not only can it go as fast as you speak but also corrects your punctuation at the same time!
Its AI surely helps it to remove unwanted objects from a photo to make your pictures look just the way you want them to look like.
And a feature like “Now Playing” automatically finds the songs playing around you and makes a lot of it, without you even asking to do it.
With everything being said, I’ll again remind you that this is not about pixel, it’s about how the use of a TPU on a phone can change the way we use our phone.