Next year’s Pixel 11 could run a 2nm Tensor G6 chip

Google’s next smartphones will be here before you know it, and the latest rumors have pointed to a late-August debut for the Pixel 10 series. If you’ve been paying half as much attention to this upcoming hardware as we have, you’re already excited about the new generation of Tensor chips set to power the phones. While Google’s been doing its own chips for years now, the Tensor G5 that Pixel 10 phones will run represents a significant step forward for the series, moving to both a new manufacturing partner and a new 3nm fabrication process. But today we’re setting our sights even further out, as we get a new report on what to expect from the Tensor G6.

With the Tensor G5, Google is moving from Samsung to industry-leader TSMC to actually make its chips, and jump from the 4nm fabrication level down to 3nm. Right now, though, we’re already solidly in the era of the 3nm chip, with examples like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite already powering this year’s most popular handsets. Even Samsung’s in on the 3nm action, just announcing its own Exynos 2500 earlier this week.

Next year, though, Google might not be playing catch-up. Taiwan’s Commercial Times reports that with the Tensor G6, TSMC will already be moving forward to 2nm fabrication (via 9to5Google). And while we haven’t yet seen how the rest of the industry will be evolving, it’s fairly likely that most other players will still be on 3nm next year.

Of course, “first” doesn’t always mean “best,” and a race to adopt new technologies can frequently involve some early bumps along the road. That said, TSMC has a solid reputation, and hearing this report has us cautiously optimistic that we could be getting to a point where we find ourselves talking about Google and its Tensor chips leading SoC advancement, rather than chasing Snapdragon’s tail.