Google Pixel 6 camera and chipset details hinted in latest Android 12 beta –
TL; DR
- The latest beta of Android 12 seems to have some details about the main camera sensor and SoC modem used in the Pixel 6 series.
- The information suggests that Google is sourcing both components from Samsung.
Google’s Pixel 6 series has got to be one of the most anticipated after the company released official renders and information on its homemade chip last week. Now the Android 12 Beta 4 released yesterday gives some details about the camera and SoC of the upcoming Google phones.
As if discovered by one XDA Member, a new version of the Google Camera app in the latest Android 12 beta contains a code string titled “gn1_wide_p21”. It suggests that Google could use Samsung’s ISOCELL 50MP GN1 sensor as the main wide-angle camera of the 2021 pixels.
Samsung introduced the 50MP GN1 sensor last year. It has a 1 / 1.31 inch sensor size and 1.2 micron pixels as opposed to 0.8 micron pixels seen on Samsung’s other high resolution sensors. The larger pixels mean better low-light performance, although the resolution will decrease. However, Samsung also launched a 50 MP GN2 sensor earlier this year. It features a larger sensor size and 1.4 micron pixels that are used in most of Google’s Pixel phones. With the Pixel 6 series, it would have made more sense to use the newer Samsung sensor. We will of course only know the exact details when Google announces more details about its new cell phones.
Related: The Pixel 6 is Google’s first real answer to the iPhone
For what it’s worth a previous leak also suggested that the Pixel 6 will have a 50 MP camera, albeit a Sony rather than a Samsung sensor.
A pixel chip made by Samsung?
Google traditionally relies on Qualcomm for its smartphone SoC requirements, but this year it is doing things in-house. Samsung is said to be manufacturing the tensor chip using the 5nm process.
A system APK in Android 12 Beta 4 also refers to the “g5123b” modem. This modem is assigned to five devices: Oriole, Raven, Passport, Slider, and an unknown fifth device. The first two codenames are believed to belong to the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, while Passport is the rumored codename for Google’s foldable phone.
XDA notes that the “g5123b” is likely based on Samsung’s Exynos Modem 5123, which is used in the Exynos variants of the Galaxy S20 and Note 20 phones. A recent report from GalaxyClub also claimed that Tensor is actually Samsung’s Exynos 9855 chip inserted between the Galaxy S21 series Exynos 2100 and the upcoming Exynos chip with the AMD GPU that is supposed to power the Galaxy S22 series.
