Googles Tensor chip is only the first step toward truly great Pixel phones

Google’s Pixel 6 is shaping up to be the company’s most ambitious smartphone in years, largely due to the new, custom-designed Tensor processor, which aims to catapult Google to the forefront of the smartphone market with the power of Google’s years of machine learning experience. And Google needs it: despite the popularity of Pixels in tech circles, its phones just aren’t popular sellers in the US, barely moving the needle compared to juggernauts like Samsung and Apple or even smaller players like Oppo or Xiaomi.

Tensor is Google’s big bet, centered on the AI-boosting TPU that promises to improve photos and videos, search, captioning, text-to-speech, and more. It’s a tall order for any chip, much less one focused mainly on machine...

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