Samsung is reportedly already hard at work on Google’s third-gen Tensor chip, although concrete details are few and far between.

Tensor is the custom system on a chip (SoC) processor Google uses to power its Pixel line of smartphones. The first-gen Tensor powers the entire Pixel 6 and 6a lines, with the second-gen expected to power the Pixel 7.

According to Galaxy Club, via 9to5Google, Samsung is in the “early testing and development” phase with the third-gen Tensor. There were no additional details regarding what improvements the new design may bring.

Why Samsung?

In some ways, it’s somewhat surprising Google is continuing to rely on Samsung as its primary manufacturing partner. While Samsung is a major semiconductor manufacturer, it is widely considered to be behind rival TSMC in the quality of its chips.

Samsung’s manufacturing issues became evident when some of its Exynos processors experienced heat issues. Some of the latest Snapdragon processors, which Samsung manufactured for Qualcomm, experienced similar issues.. In contrast, Apple and MediaTek processors are manufactured by TSMC and do not have the same issues.

Given that Google’s North American smartphone market share grew by 230% in Q2 2022, the company clearly has an opportunity to continue challenging its larger rivals in the smartphone space. It is somewhat puzzling that Google does not want to switch to TSMC for its manufacturing needs and is continuing to stick with Samsung.