Pixel 10: Google, Samsung Battleground Over Chipset, Features

Google Pixel 10 is making quite the buzz before its launch. 

The tech giant is expected to unveil the Pixel 10 range — including the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, plus the Pixel 10 Pro Fold — on Aug. 20.

While everything from its rumoured design, thicker camera bar with tele-macro camera, upgraded image stabilisation, adaptive tone display, Qi 2 support, faster ultrasonic fingerprint scanner and new colours have been welcomed by tech lovers, some developments have come as a shock to none other than Samsung.

The Pixel 10 was to have the Tensor G5 SoC, but it will reportedly not be made by Samsung but by rival TSMC instead. 

Analyst Jukan Choi wrote on X that "Google handed over the production of its application processors (APs), which it had entrusted to Samsung Electronics, to TSMC" and its "Device Solutions Division is holding a global strategic meeting". "The 'Google incident', which caused considerable shock inside and outside Samsung Electronics last month, is also under scrutiny," Choi added.

Reports even indicate that TSMC will manufacture all Pixels, starting from Pixel 10 to Pixel 14, which, if true, will be shocking for Samsung's business end.

The other news is more feature-centric — a moderate challenge for the South Korean company.

As per a report by Android insider Mishaal Rahman, Google is working on a feature named "Gemini Space" for the Pixel 10 series. This feature, a revamp of At a Glance widget, might be Google's equivalent of Samsung's Now Brief, offering a contextual overview of a user’s day on the lock screen. Ambience Hub is another feature that Google might be working on to present data on ambient display.

Pixel devices do not offer an equivalent experience to Now Brief, but Gemini Space and Ambience Hub could change that. Add to that the purported shift of At a Glance (or Gemini Space) to the bottom of the lock screen, and it could give Samsung’s Now Bar a run for the money.