The Pixel Fold 2 may skip the Tensor G3 and add more RAM

2023 has been a big year for foldable phones, as we've seen not only several new entries into existing product lines but also entirely new ones. Google, for example, finally entered the foldable market with the Pixel Fold, a book-shaped foldable phone released in May powered by the company's in-house Tensor G2 chip.

The company is expected to follow up on that phone with the Pixel Fold 2 this year, but we have heard little news about the device compared to the other three Pixel devices expected to be launched this year (Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 8a). ). But thanks to the source Robot body You've learned the key details about the upcoming Pixel Fold 2.

A source (who wishes to remain anonymous) reached out to us and informed us that Google has been testing the Pixel Fold 2 internally for the past couple of months. Previous prototypes of the foldable device featured Google's Tensor G3 chipset, codenamed “zuma,” but recent prototypes have switched to the rumored Tensor G4 chipset, codenamed “zumapro.”

This change during development suggests that Google may ship the Pixel Fold 2 with a Tensor G4 chipset instead of the Tensor G3, but we don't know that for sure. For the record, early reviews of the Pixel Tablet included Google's first-generation Tensor chipset, but the tablet ended up shipping with Google's second-generation Tensor G2 chipset instead. The tablet's codename was changed during development to reflect this shift, from “tangor” to “tangorpro,” so it's possible the same will happen with the Pixel Fold 2 (which is currently codenamed “comet”).

If Google is changing gears on the chipset, it could change when the new foldable device launches as well. The original Pixel Fold was announced in May 2023 at Google I/O, so it would make sense for its successor to launch similarly. However, the calculations change if the plan is to ship the Pixel Fold 2 with the Tensor G4, as Google typically reserves its fall hardware event for the full reveal of new Tensor chips. If Google is planning to launch the Pixel Fold 2 at this year's I/O conference, it's unlikely to include the newer Tensor G4, but if I/O comes and goes without launching the Pixel Fold 2, skipping the Tensor G3 is not a good thing. 'Not out of the question.

We've been told that the Pixel Fold 2 is at the beginning of the Engineering Verification Test (EVT) phase, which means it's several iterations away from mass production (MP). The process usually continues: Model > EVT > DVT > PVT > MPSo given where the device currently stands in the queue, it seems unlikely that it will be ready for launch at I/O 2024 in May.

Regardless, what will upgrading to the Tensor G4 bring to the table? While the full specifications of the upcoming chipset are still a mystery, they are expected to be only a modest improvement over last year's Tensor G3 (hence the internal codename “zumapro” vs. “zuma”). Although we don't know the exact configuration, the Tensor G4 is expected to feature a mix of Arm's Cortex-X4, A720, and A520 CPU cores. The chipset is rumored to be made by Samsung rather than TSMC, although Google is planning to switch to TSMC to manufacture the Tensor G5.

Hopefully the company will finish shipping the next-gen chipset on the next-gen foldable because one of the most disappointing aspects of the first-gen Pixel Fold was the less powerful Tensor G2 instead of the Tensor G3.

Along with the new chipset, our source tells us that some current prototypes of the Pixel Fold 2 feature 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage. In contrast, last year's Pixel Fold shipped with 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The move up to 16GB of RAM is notable considering that it will be the first time that Google will ship a smartphone with more than 12GB of RAM. The increase in RAM would make sense as Google is said to be planning to offer more AI features on the device as part of its new AI assistant called Pixie.

As for storage, upgrading to UFS 4.0 should reduce the time it takes to load files into memory, which is useful for many tasks such as loading applications and games. It's possible there could be other storage variants, but we'll need to wait until the phone gets closer to launch to find out what those will be, if any.