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Pixel 7 Rumor Reveals Second-Generation Tensor Chipset and Modem Details

Hints in the Android 13 developer preview point to Google Tensor chips, new flagship Pixel phone codenames and more.

David Lumb Mobile Reporter
David Lumb is a mobile reporter covering how on-the-go gadgets like phones, tablets and smartwatches change our lives. Over the last decade, he's reviewed phones for TechRadar as well as covered tech, gaming, and culture for Engadget, Popular Mechanics, NBC Asian America, Increment, Fast Company and others. As a true Californian, he lives for coffee, beaches and burritos.
Expertise smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, telecom industry, mobile semiconductors, mobile gaming
David Lumb
Google Pixel 6

Google's Pixel 6 smartphone.

Stephen Shankland/CNET

The Google Pixel 7 series will pack second-generation Tensor chipsets, according to new rumors providing some of the first details we've heard about Google's next generation of flagship phones. 

The details include the codenames "Cheetah" and "Panther" for the Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, respectively, which 9to5Google reported after scrutinizing code in the recently released Android 13 developer preview

Read more: Pixel 7 Rumors: An Upgraded Google-Made Tensor Chip Is on The Horizon

Those codenames were linked to an unreleased Samsung modem, which 9to5Google calls the Exynos Modem 5300. Code diver Cstark27 reportedly found another piece of the puzzle -- references in the Android 13 code that links the new modem with a second-generation Tensor chipset previously linked to Cloudripper, Google's reported test device for next-generation phone platforms. 

Google packed the first generation of its Tensor chipset on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro phones, which came out in October. While the first Tensor slightly underperformed compared to rival chipsets like the Snapdragon 888 in benchmark scores, per Nanoreview, Google maintained that its chipset was essential to AI-powered perks like the Magic Eraser tool that wiped unwanted objects from photos.  

Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.