Google Tensor: Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro to feature dual ARM Cortex-X1 and ARM Cortex-A76 cores, no DisplayPort Alt mode supported

Yesterday, Mishaal Rahman and XDA Developers leaked numerous details about the Pixel 6 Pro, Google's next flagship smartphone. Both it and the Pixel 6 will be powered by Google Tensor, the company's first in-house SoC. While Google has not revealed the specifications of Tensor, Rahman and XDA Developers have.

According to Rahman, there is a strong chance of last week's Geekbench listing being legitimate. Reputedly, the listing contains numerous elements shared with XDA Developers' source's Pixel 6 Pro. These include the build fingerprint, CPU frequencies, CPU clusters and GPU info, for reference. Rahman notes that it would be possible to fake these values, but one must know them first. Without Google releasing these, this seems unlikely.

Rahman had already disclosed that Google Tensor is a tri-cluster SoC, as the Exynos 2100 and Snapdragon 888 are. However, the SoC's CPU parts have been teased from /proc/cpuinfo, which the CPU populates. Cache levels are unknown, but Google has built Tensor using dual ARM Cortex-X1 cores, double the volume that the Exynos 2100 and Snapdragon 888 offer. These 2.8 GHz cores are joined by four Cortex-A55 cores limited to 1.8 GHz, which will act as Tensor's power efficiency cores.

Notably, Rahman claims that Tensor also has two Cortex-A76 cores clocked a 2.25 GHz. ARM announced Cortex-A76 cores three years ago, a strange inclusion in a flagship SoC released this year. The company has released Cortex-A77 and Cortex-A78 cores since too, which both offer better performance and reduced power consumption compared with Cortex-A76 cores. These core details have been gleaned from an actual Pixel 6 Pro, so a misinterpretation is slim.

Google Tensor will include a Mali-G78 GPU too, shared with the Exynos 2100. Unfortunately, the volume of cores that Google has opted for remains a mystery currently. Additionally, Google Tensor features an Exynos 5123 modem and handles HW AV1 decoding. The Pixel 6 series will also support aptX, aptX HD, and LDAC Bluetooth codecs, a boon for wireless audio fans. DisplayPort Alt Mode is missing again though, rendering the Pixel 6 series with no video output.

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