While the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro are on the way, Google has revealed that it has fixed one of the Pixel 7’s major flaws: its tendency to overheat.
We stated it last month: the Pixel 8 microprocessor, the Tensor G3, should have considerably better heat management than the Pixel 7. Samsung’s introduction of a FO-WLP (« package Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packaging ») would allow this new SoC to heat significantly less than its predecessor, which had been widely criticized in this area.
Google has officially revealed the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, and the company has verified the information in an interview on YouTube.
A Tensor G3 less inclined to heat
In an interview with content creator Michael Fisher on YouTube, Rick Osterloh, the main manitou of Pixel goods, said HIM: the engineers of Google, in partnership with Samsung, would have concentrated on the heat emitted by the new processor of the Pixel 8, so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past. According to his claims:
I think all SoCs are hot if you use them a lot, and certain tasks such as capturing high resolution videos or car navigation use much of the system. So, because they use a large part of the system, they can certainly heat up, as you have seen with recent product launches, but we have really focused on this aspect. And we think we have proposed serious improvements in Tensor G3, so be careful.
As a reminder, heating a chip has two disastrous consequences for a mobile device. On the one hand, there is autonomy, which skyrockets as the chip’s energy consumption and hence temperature grow. On the other side, this has an influence on performance: manufacturers often use thermal throtting, which lowers the clock frequency if a chip reaches a specific degree of heating.
This situation is not limited to Android phones: Apple recently released a software patch for the iPhone 15 to address consumer complaints about overheating. It remains to be seen whether Google’s promises on this issue are fulfilled on the Google P8, which we will attempt to check throughout our continuous testing of the two devices.
