Snapdragon 888+ vs Google Tensor: for the first time a Pixel smartphone is getting powered by Google’s own custom chipset known as “Tensor”. Thus, Google has joined the likes of Samsung, Apple and Huawei in use of custom chip.

But how good is the Google Tensor chipset when compared to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+? Let’s find out via this comparison.

In terms of built process, the Google Tensor and Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ chip are both built on a 5 nanometer process. To the best of their respective abilities, both are battery efficient but not as effective as the N5P process used by TSMC in the iPhone 13 series.

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The Snapdragon 888+ chip uses the latest Qualcomm’s X60 5G modem with 7.5 Gbps top download speed and 3 Gbps upload speed. However, Google is yet to reveal the exact modem in the Tensor Soc but we do know it is 5G enabled.

Snapdragon 888+ vs Google Tensor: CPU and GPU

According to Google, the Tensor chip is 80% faster than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G chipset in the Pixel 5. But again, that was a mid-range processor and doesn’t really justify how powerful or fast the Tensor chip is. It would have been better if Google had compared it to present flagship chipsets and not to a mid-range chip of last year.

Nevertheless, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ maintains the octa-core 1+3+4 CPU architecture, while Google Tensor adopted the octa-core 2+2+4 CPU setup. Qualcomm upgraded the Snapdragon 888+ primary CPU core from 2.84 GHz to 2.995 GHz.

For the Google Tensor chip, at its peak, the highest CPU is clocked @2.80 GHz. Thus, Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+’s CPU performance is better than Tensor.

And when it comes to graphics, the Google Tensor has 20-core GPU (suspected to be ARM-Mali G78 mc20). But the Snapdragon 888+ with Adreno 660 is industry’s leading Android GPU. Although, the Tensor’s GPU can perform almost at par with Adreno 660 but it still trails behind.

Snapdragon 888+ vs Google Tensor: AI & ML

One key area where Google Tensor leads is AI & ML. For a very long time now, Google dominates the AI and ML sector. And that exactly was an added reason why Google needed it’s own chipset in its Pixel devices.

For example, the Pixel 6 series are smarter and it can only get better from here judging by the fact that Tensor chipset will continue to be better as well.

Going by counts, Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ with Hexagon 780 AI processor delivers up to 32TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second) but Google didn’t reveal any details.

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Snapdragon 888+ vs Google Tensor: Benchmark

Geekbench	Snapdragon 888+	Google Tensor
Multi Core	3,686	2,984
Multi Single	1,138	1,094

Verdict

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ is better GPU and CPU wise. However, since the Google Tensor is just in its first generation, let’s wait for the coming years and see how it improves.