Google didn't mention the Tensor G3's specs in its official announcement, although it keeps talking about its computational imaging, video capabilities, and use of artificial intelligence to enhance the final results. Even on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro comparison page, no further details are provided about the latest SoC, but we did stumble upon some information that mentions that Samsung's older 4nm manufacturing process is being used to mass-produce the Tensor G3, rather than the latest one.
Past leaks have talked about the TensorG3’s CPU configuration, with the chipset featuring a 9-core CPU and Mali-G715 GPU. According to Notebookcheck, although the CPU cluster architecture is good, the manufacturing process is Samsung's older 4nmLPP (Low Power Plus), not 4nmLPP+. The newer manufacturing process may be dedicated to the Exynos 2400, which next year's Tensor G4 is also built on, although a previous report stated that the latter would not provide a meaningful upgrade to the Tensor G3.
TensorG3 is not mass-produced on the most advanced nodes, which undoubtedly helps Google save a lot of cost on the chip. Qualcomm is reportedly selling the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 to smartphone partners for $160, while the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is said to be more expensive than its predecessor, and Google could invest those dollars into its software arm by focusing more on the feature aspects of the Tensor G3. Where it struggled in terms of raw CPU performance, Google has managed to improve the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro's capabilities in terms of images and video, as evidenced by early single- and multi-core Geekbench 6 leaks.
Unfortunately, the disadvantage of using Samsung's inferior 4nm LPP process is that it is not very efficient. Unless Google switches to TSMC's foundry (which it's not expected to do until the TensorG5 arrives), we'll likely continue to see its chipsets lag behind the competition. A teardown of the Pixel 8 revealed that Google used copper and graphite films and thermal grease to help transfer heat, but did little to alleviate overheating issues, which directly resulted in the smaller version ultimately performing 11% lower than the Pixel 8 Pro's peak performance.
Google will eventually have to move foundries or switch to more advanced manufacturing processes to help its Tensor chips compete at the flagship level, but with a limited number of Pixel units shipped in a year, it may be a while before the company can match the other giants.