A hands-on leak of the Pixel 10 Pro this week revealed some important details about the device, including a key change regarding its Tensor G5 chipset. Contrary to previous expectations, the Tensor G5 will not be using a MediaTek modem, as originally rumored.
While the Pixel 10 series shares much of its hardware with the Pixel 9 lineup, the major change this year is the chipset. Tensor G5 will be the first Google chipset produced by TSMC, marking Google’s shift from relying on Exynos for its chipsets. Although the change to TSMC will likely improve efficiency, the Tensor G5 is not expected to provide a significant performance overhaul.
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However, despite the TSMC switch, it appears the Exynos 5400 modem will remain in use, as evidenced by the hands-on images of the Pixel 10 Pro. The DevCheck Pro app reports that the Tensor G5 is using a baseband starting with “g5400”, matching the modem seen in the Pixel 9 series. This indicates that Google has stuck with the Exynos 5400 modem, contrary to earlier reports suggesting a shift to a MediaTek modem.
While Exynos modems have been associated with heat issues in previous Pixel devices, the Exynos 5400 has helped mitigate these problems in the Pixel 9 series. With the added efficiency from the TSMC production and the new Tensor G5 architecture, the Pixel 10 series is likely to perform better thermally, even if it still lags behind Snapdragon SoCs in certain areas.
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Additionally, the leak reveals that the Pixel 10 will feature 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and the Tensor G5 will have a new core layout.