Original title: Google Tensor, better than Qualcomm Inc?

Early this morning, Alphabet Inc-CL C officially launched the brand-new Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro flagship phones. As previously exposed, both products are equipped with self-developed Google Tensor processors, while the camera configuration has been greatly upgraded. Unfortunately, in addition to the prior exposure of flagship mobile phones and self-developed chips, other hardware in Alphabet Inc-CL C's product ecology did not appear at this press conference, and there was even no shadow of the rumored foldable mobile phones.

Alphabet Inc-CL C does not seem to care about the secrecy of his mobile phone at all. from the past to the present, before every press conference, the appearance information, configuration information, camera modules and other materials of the product will basically be exposed, just like before watching the TV series. I knew the big ending of the TV series in advance, which really reduced the audience's sense of expectation, and it was already a little boring before it started.

However, after watching this press conference, Xiao Lei will still send out a sigh that Alphabet Inc-CL C, who strives to establish a "product benchmark" for major manufacturers, seems to be back.

Pixel 6/Pixel 6 Pro: a new design

First of all, let's take a look at the protagonist Google Pixel 6/Pixel 6 Pro in the early hours of this morning, which is also the flagship positioning product that Alphabet Inc-CL C launched again after two years.

In terms of appearance design, Alphabet Inc-CL C abandoned the metal solid color design concept of Pixel 5 and returned to the glass color design of the flagship products in the past. The back of the machine is divided into three sections from top to bottom, and a black camera module crosses the fuselage along the top 1/3, which is quite unique. Compared with other stereotyped flagship products, the Pixel 6 series will undoubtedly be one of the most recognizable new machines this year. Sure enough, color matching design is the essence of the Pixel series.

In such a unique camera module, there is a hardware configuration to be reckoned with. According to officials, the Google Pixel 6/Pixel 6 Pro uses a 5000-megapixel main camera lens with an aperture of 1.85, which can capture 150% more light than its predecessor. In addition to the main shot, both Pixel models are equipped with an ultra-wide-angle lens of 12 million pixels, while the Pixel 6 Pro has an extra 48 million-pixel telephoto lens, which can achieve 4x optical zoom.

Since Pixel 2, Alphabet Inc-CL C has successively used 12 million pixel IMX363 camera in four iterative products. To Pixel 5, during the same period, the product has even begun to explore the super bottom 50 million pixel camera. No matter how powerful the software algorithm is, such a hardware gap can not be ignored.

In the Pixel 6 generation, Alphabet Inc-CL C finally stopped picking on the camera hardware, and the new 50 million-pixel master began to catch up with other Android flagships. As for how much improvement such a module can bring in imaging, we will explain in detail in the later part of the chip.

Turn to the front of the phone and let's take a look at the screen quality. Google Pixel 6 is equipped with a 6.4in 90Hz refresh rate FHD+ resolution OLED straight screen, still uses the "nearly four sides equal width" front design, although the actual frame is a little narrower than the Pixel 5, but compared with the domestic manufacturers to launch the straight screen phone is still much wider, the positive look is more general.

The Google Pixel 6 is equipped with a 6.7-inch 2K + resolution OLED curved screen, which uses LTPO technology and supports 10Hz-120Hz 's dynamic refresh rate adjustment. According to officials, the machine has done micro-bending at the frame so that the screen does not look so straight that it loses its aesthetic sense.

In terms of battery life, the Pixel 6 uses the Type-C interface, the battery capacity of the Pixel 6 is 4614mAh, and the larger Pixel 6 Pro is 5003 mAh. Both support 30W wired charging and 12W Qi wireless charging. In addition, Pixel 6 has a built-in Android 12 system, supports off-screen fingerprint recognition, and has the functions of IP68 waterproof and dustproof, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, Sub-6 and millimeter wave 5G.

Finally, it is also the price that everyone is most looking forward to. Google Pixel 6 is available in two 8GB+128GB/256GB memory specifications, starting at US $599 (RMB 3827), which is even cheaper than Pixel 5 (initial price of US $699), which is a big surprise for foreign users.

The Google Pixel 6 Pro is available in three 12GB+128GB/256GB/512GB memory specifications, starting at $899 (RMB 5744), which is a relatively conventional flagship price.

Google Tenser: surpass Qualcomm Inc?

The biggest difference between the Google Pixel 6 series and any previous Pixel and other Android phones is that it uses the Google Tensor chip, a chip customized by Alphabet Inc-CL C.

According to the information provided by the XDA Forum developers, the Google Tensor chip uses Samsung 5nm process technology, with 2 2.8GHz Cortex-X1 super cores, 2 2.25GHz Cortex-A76 medium cores and 4 1.8GHz Cortex-A55 cores, with a 20 core Mali-G78 MP20 GPU. According to the official statement, the performance of the Pixel 5Magi CPU is 80% higher than that of the Snapdragon 765G GPU and up to 37% higher than that of the Snapdragon 765G GPU.

Twice the number of super-large cores, advanced process technology. From the parameter point of view, this time the Google Tensor processor can definitely be called the flagship level, and it has the momentum to surpass Snapdragon 888 in one fell swoop.

However, from the current online disclosure of the Geekbench 5 running score, Google Tensor's single-core score is 1037 points, multi-core score is 2862 points. As a comparison, the single-core score and multi-core score of Snapdragon 888 with the same process were 1171 and 3704, while those of Exynos 2100 were 1089 and 3963 respectively.

In such a comparison, the gap is still a little obvious.

Why didn't Google Tensor processors, which seem to have the same process and lead the number of super-large cores, perform as expected in the Geekbench 5? Xiao Lei believes that there are two possible reasons. First, although Google Tensor is equipped with two X1 super cores, but the big core does not use the latest Cortex-A78 architecture, but the more backward A76 large core, there will naturally be a gap in the ultimate performance.

Second, Google Tensor uses Samsung 5nm process technology, which shows that this chip needs to be carefully optimized in terms of power consumption and heating in order to play the ideal performance, although we do not have the opportunity to start with the Google Pixel 6 series, but the heat dissipation performance of this product is really worth observing.

Fortunately, Google Tensor is not a processor that emphasizes extreme performance, but more importantly, it makes full use of its AI computing power with the help of Tensor chips. With its blessing, Alphabet Inc-CL C Pixel 6 Series has realized many new functions, which are mainly reflected in three aspects, namely, intelligent voice, computational photography and security and privacy.

The first is "smart voice". Thanks to the new Tensor processor, Google Pixel 6 is now more able to understand human language. Now even if the user has an accent and dialect, Google Pixel 6 can better recognize it (English only) and convert your voice into text. Not only that, the translation accuracy of the "real-time translation" function has also been improved, allowing you to better communicate with foreigners.

Then there is Computational Photography, where thanks to the strong performance of Google Tensor, the Pixel 6 series can now not only take HDR photos, but also use HDRnet to shoot videos-and record 4K videos at 60 frames. Real-time video rendering, improve the color accuracy of video, a large amount of real-time computing is not a small challenge to the processor.

In other functions, "Magic Eraser" can automatically identify people who slip into the camera, and users only need to click to erase them; "Real Tone" strives to restore the most real appearance of the characters, so that the characters in the photos look like the naked eye; "Face Unblur" can get a clear picture that ensures the quality of the picture and is sharpened by taking two photos at the same time. On the other hand, "Motion Mode" can automatically judge the moving object and automatically render the blurred effect caused by the motion.

Finally, in terms of "security and privacy", the Google Tensor chip will work with the Titan M2 security chip released at the same time last night to handle password protection, encryption and secure transactions in applications. According to the official statement, the Google Tensor chip will also support security updates for at least five years, the first time such a long period of security update support has appeared on Android phones.

Summary: Google rekindling ambition

To tell you the truth, Alphabet Inc-CL C's autumn press conference this year did not bring us many surprises. On the one hand, this conference is far away from domestic consumers themselves, and none of these new products will be listed in the mainland. On the other hand, as the protagonist of the press conference, the Pixel 6 series, the previous information has been completely exposed, indeed a lot less surprise.

However, from the product point of view, as the flagship product re-launched by Alphabet Inc-CL C after two years, the overall quality of the Pixel 6 series is still very good. Comprehensively improved hardware configuration, original shape design, computational photography with various ways of playing, more accurate voice recognition and more secure mobile phone system. This product gives us a fresh look at Alphabet Inc-CL C's ambition to re-enter the high-end camp.

So how can we get back into the high-end camp? Alphabet Inc-CL C gave his own answer: the Google Tensor chip designed and developed by himself. Although it is not the most powerful chip on the market, it is indeed the only chip that has been fully customized by Alphabet Inc-CL C and added a large number of self-developed coprocessors. In other words: Tensor processors are born for AI computing!

Judging from the reaction of foreign netizens, the Pixel 6 series is undoubtedly very popular. On the one hand, it may be because the sales of new Pixel 6 series phones are too hot, so there was a downtime in Alphabet Inc-CL C's online store in the early hours of this morning. On the other hand, sources said Alphabet Inc-CL C had asked suppliers to produce more than 7 million Pixel 6 smartphones, double the company's shipments for the whole of last year.

It's true that Alphabet Inc-CL C is not a hardware company, but the new hardware products released by Alphabet Inc-CL C this year may really have a chance to get on the shopping cart of ordinary consumers.