Google Unveils Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro Powered by Its Custom Tensor SoC

Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have been officially announced by Google and will launch later this year. The design of both the smartphones has been unveiled and they look very different from previous-generation Pixel phones. Along with the new design, Google has also gone the Apple route and incorporated its own SoC called Tensor to power the two phones. Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro will come with Android 12 with Google's Material You design aesthetic when they launch this fall.

Rick Osterloh, Senior Vice President, Devices and Services, at Google shared a blog post revealing the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones. This time around, Google has decided to completely redesign the Pixel phone and introduce a Pro variant instead of its typical XL model. The overall design of both Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro is the same, with the difference being their screen size, camera lenses, and a few features. The camera module is a protruding strip, which Google calls the camera bar that runs across the width of the phones and houses bigger sensors compared to the previous generation Pixel phones.

The Pixel 6 series still carries the dual-tone design with power and volume buttons on the right side and a blank left side. The Pro model features a polished aluminium frame while the non-Pro model comes with a matte aluminium finish. There is a single, centrally located hole-punch cutout for the selfie camera, and there seem to be three colour options for each model. Notably, the design for the Pixel 6 series does match the renders that were leaked early in May.

On the inside, Google has incorporated its custom-built SoC called Tensor, which will be powering the Pixel phones from now on. Previous reports did point to an in-house developed SoC codenamed ‘GS101' Whitechapel for the upcoming Pixel phones. Tensor allows for “entirely new features, plus improvements to existing ones” when it comes to computational photography models. It also comes with a new security core and Titan M2 security chip, which the company says gives the Pixel 6 series the “most layers of hardware security in any phone”.

In terms of software, the Pixel 6 series will run Android 12 with Material You design that the search giant announced at Google I/O in May.

Dieter Bohn of The Verge reports the Pixel 6 Pro will have a 6.7-inch QHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The screen is slightly curved and there are three camera sensors on the back, which can be seen in the images shared by Google in the blogpost. The setup includes a new wide-angle primary sensor, a secondary sensor with an ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 4X optical-zoom folded telephoto lens. The main wide-angle sensor is said to take in 150 percent more light, which should lead to greater detail in photos. The Pixel 6, on the other hand, reportedly has a 6.4-inch full-HD+ flat screen with a 90Hz refresh rate. In terms of cameras, it comes with a dual camera setup as seen in the official images, leaving out the telephoto lens. Both phones are said to have in-display fingerprint scanners.

Bohn and other members of the press were also shown demos of the Pixel 6 series' camera performance compared to the Pixel 5 and the iPhone 12 Pro Max. More interestingly, there was also a demo showing off the near-instantaneous speech-to-text feature that allowed using the keyboard and editing the words while dictating at the same time. While there is no concrete information on its pricing, the Pixel 6 series will reportedly be “a premium-priced product”, as per The Verge report citing Osterloh.