Even if the new modem doesn't improve Pixel 9 connectivity, it could help extend battery life

When the Pixel 6 Pro was my daily driver, there were times when the phone would suddenly get cut off from my cellular network making me wonder what might happen if I needed to make a call in an emergency situation. Eventually, the problems with the modem, the optical under-display fingerprint scanner, and the short-lasting battery had me reaching for my older iPhone 11 Pro Max. Eventually, I bought an iPhone 15 Pro Max which is my current everyday phone.

Why did Google switch from using a Qualcomm modem on the Pixel 5 to the Samsung SHANNON A5123 5G Modem for the Pixel 6 series? One guess would be that Qualcomm's 5G modem was much more expensive than the Samsung modem. What Google did was cut corners where it thought it could get away with it. And sure, we get it. No one likes to deal with Qualcomm and its mantra "No license, no chips" which I suspect is chanted every morning in the executive suite in San Diego.

In a little more than a week, Google will unveil the Pixel 9 series and it will be the last of the Pixels to use a Samsung-manufactured Exynos-based application processor (AP). Next year, the Tensor G5 AP will be used on the Pixel 10 line and it will be designed from scratch by Google. It also will be built by TSMC using its second-gen 3nm process node (N3E). The chip has already been taped out which means the design stage is over and the next stage is the fabrication of the Tensor G5. Google is ahead of schedule so that it has the time to fix any serious flaws before using the silicon for the 2025 Pixel line.

But that's next year. This year's Pixel 9 series is powered by the Tensor G4 and it uses the Exynos 2400 as a template. Considering that Samsung has seriously improved the last few Exynos chipsets starting with the Exynos 2300, this is not the Titanic-sized disaster that you might have been thinking it was. The 1+3+4 configuration includes one Cortex-A4 prime CPU core running up to 3.1GHz, three efficiency-performance Cortex-A720 CPU cores with a clock speed as fast as 2.6GHz, and four efficiency Cortex-A520 CPU cores running up to 1.95GHz. 

There is nothing extraordinary there and it shows in a recent Geekbench test of the Tensor G4-powered Pixel 9 Pro XL versus the Tensor G3-powered Pixel 8 Pro, But there is a silver lining in the Tensor G4 cloud. Pixel users are getting a new 5G modem after working with the Exynos 5300 on the Pixel 7 and Pixel 8 lines. But the new modem remains in the Exynos family. The Exynos 5400, compared to the Exynos 5300, is up to 50% improved when it comes to power consumption.

Sure, this one improvement doesn't necessarily mean that the Exynos 5400 will perform better than the Exynos 5300 and yes, the latter did generate some complaints although not as many as the Pixel 6 Pro's modem. But at least there might be some improvement in battery life thanks to new modem.

If you are not sure whether to update this year or next, your best bet might be to wait until the Pixel 10 is released next year as the Pixel's AP breaks free of Samsung for the first time since the mid-range Snapdragon 765G  powered the Pixel 5.