Google is testing a MediaTek modem in the Pixel 10 series

Over the past month, we’ve seen a lot of information about the future, fully in-house designed Google Tensor chips leak, including full specs for the Tensor G5 and Tensor G6, a list of features they might enable, and more. We went from basically knowing nothing to having a good idea of ​​what the future Tensor chips and the Pixel handset they will have to offer.

An important unanswered question, however, is which modem would be used in future Pixels. All the devices that used Tensor chips designed in collaboration with Samsung used Exynos modems, presumably because they were the easiest to integrate, but with Google becoming completely independent, it doesn’t necessarily have a reason to continue that practice .

We finally got an answer to this question, and it’s not what anyone expected. Thanks to a source in Google, Android Authority has learned Google’s plans regarding the modem it intends to use in the upcoming Pixel 10 series.

There are currently only three companies with modern, 5G-capable modems: Samsung (S.LSI), Qualcomm and MediaTek. Google didn’t have too much of a choice there, unless it wanted to build its own solution, which even with a prefabricated 5G IP block, like Ceva’s PentaG2, would be risky and much more expensive.

Before making its decision, Google evaluated all the options available, including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X75 modem, which is the same one used in Apple’s iPhone 16 series. Speaking of Apple, it also plans to move away from Qualcomm to its internal modems in the coming years. In the end, though, for some reason Google decided to go with MediaTek’s (yet-unreleased) T900 modem.

Unfortunately, we know virtually nothing about this new modem, except that it is based on MediaTek’s “M85” generation modem IP. For reference, the “M70” supported the 3GPP Release 15 5G specification, the “M80” upgraded to Release 16, so it’s safe to assume that the “M85” will support Release 17 or even newer.

Unfortunately, we don’t even really know much about MediaTek’s previous generation T800 modem to make assumptions. Even if we have a specs sheet, it doesn’t tell us much (eg if it’s manufactured on a Samsung or TSMC process node). As far as I can tell, no device has actually used it.

We can’t really know how good the T900 will be, but I would cautiously assume that it will at least be okay. After all, Google is well aware that thermals and battery life are some of the biggest issues with Tensor-based Pixels, largely due to their modems, and I doubt they’d let the disaster like the Pixel 6 was, happen again.

A MediaTek modem is certainly not what most expected – or wanted. Many of you will probably even criticize this move after reading this article and declare the Pixel 10 a product that is not on the way, but I think it is far too early to say something like that. We basically don’t know anything specific about this modem, nor do we know much about how Qualcomm’s external modems perform, since the only devices that use them are iPhones. Not to mention that even Samsung, heavily criticized by many, managed to release a relatively decent modem – the Exynos Modem 5400 – and as a result the Pixel 9 series has a pretty solid battery life.

Ultimately, we’ll have to wait and see how things look when Google releases the Pixel 10 series, but I doubt it will be anywhere near bad. Google makes the choices it does for a reason, even if sometimes it doesn’t seem like it, and this is certainly no exception.