Not Samsung or Qualcomm: Google Pixel 10 series will reportedly feature a MediaTek modem

In an exclusive report, Android Authority shares that the Google Pixel 10 series will use a MediaTek modem. More specifically, the upcoming lineup is expected to sport the yet-to-be-announced T900 modem. Looking back, the company has been sticking to Samsung Exynos modems ever since the Pixel 6 series.

While these Exynos modems promise great performance, they have often been subjected to poor reception and overheating problems. The Google Tensor G2, however, did see a noticeable improvement in this regard with the Exynos 5300 5G, and the same goes for the G3 and G4 as well.

These improvements may have made the reception and heating issues unnoticeable by the end users to some extent, but it seems Google isn't satisfied with how Samsung's offerings fare against the competition. As Android Authority reports, the company first considered a modem from Qualcomm, including the Snapdragon X75 modem that's in the Apple iPhone 16 series.

However, after evaluating the Qualcomm modem, Google has reportedly decided to go for the MediaTek T900 for the Pixel 10 series. Given that MediaTek hasn't announced this chip yet, not much is known about it besides that it's based on the "M85" generation modem IP.

To fill you in, the "M70" had support for 3GPP Release 15 5G specification, while the "M80" had support for Release 16. So, it's safe to assume that the "M85" generation modem IP will have support for Release 17 or newer. However, it's unclear how much of an improvement it would be over the Exynos Modem 5400 found in the Pixel 9 series (128 GB Pixel 9 curr. $614.96 on Amazon).

But then again, Google is well aware of the thermals and battery life issues revolving around the Exynos chips. So, the T900 inside the Tensor G5 could actually bring some noticeable improvements.