Pixel 8 Pro: The Forbidden Benchmark Tale

Google prohibited Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, and new owners from testing the Tensor G3 processor with famous benchmarks

Google has surprised reviewers of its most recent Pixel 8 series smartphones by taking the uncommon step of preventing them from downloading famous chip testing benchmarks directly through its Play Store. Unbelievably, the corporation has expanded this ban to encompass all new Pixel 8 customers after the launch in an effort to stifle the results’ wide dissemination.

It has been discovered that Google has forbidden of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro from installing well-known benchmarks like Geekbench and 3D Mark, which is a very rare action. A well-known test, Geekbench, measures the CPU performance of smartphone silicon, whereas a benchmark, 3DMark, measures the GPU performance of a chip.

Running benchmarks like these is a normal step in the evaluation process, which helps the reviewer create an overall evaluation of a device based on qualitative analysis based on actual usage as well as objective facts.

In their explanation of the Tensor G3, Google has emphasized that it was created with AI and efficiency in mind rather than pure performance, making it obvious that the company is well aware of the device’s relative performance flaws.

While preventing access to the benchmarks through the Google Play Store will have hindered some reviewers’ ability to perform the tests, others with a bit more technical know-how have been able to get around this restriction using a technique called side-loading. As a result, the Tensor G3 SoC powering the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro has been exposed in Geekbench, 3DMark, and other benchmark results. These outcomes have not been favorable.

The Tensor G3 as fitted to the Pixel 8 Pro scored a single-core score of 1760 and a multi-core score of 4442 in the first Geekbench 6 result to surface during the embargo period. With a single-core score of 2003 and a multi-core score of 5427, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (soon to be replaced by the even faster and more efficient SD8G3) performs poorly in comparison.

Despite the fact that both chips employ Arm-based CPU designs that are extremely comparable, there is a noticeable disparity. In actuality, the Tensor G3 benefits from an extra mid-core (9 total cores versus 8 cores) and an improved mid-core design. For 32-bit backwards compatibility, Qualcomm actually chose a few somewhat older Cortex-A710 cores in addition to two Cortex-A715 cores; the Tensor G3 only employs four of the more recent Cortex-A715 cores.

The discrepancy in performance can be attributed to Google’s collaboration with Samsung, which offered it the chance to create more specialized semiconductors but also forced them to use Samsung’s troublesome 4 nm node technology. Not only does Samsung’s 4 nm node result in much less effective circuits, but it also falls short of the better N4P node utilized by TSMC to create the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in terms of transistor density.

In spite of Google’s best attempts to prevent them from appearing, the initial 3D Mark Wild Life Stress results, which also tested the Tensor G3’s Arm Mali-G715 GPU, revealed similar performance issues. Recent efficiency tests have also been undertaken, and the results place the Tensor G3 far off the top of the list and more in line with older CPUs like the Snapdragon 888.

It is common for tech-focused social media platforms to go crazy with benchmark results during the launch phase of every new smartphone, even during the embargo period, indicating that Google’s highly unconventional strategies have, at least in part, been successful.

It seems that Google plans to keep using these strategies. Google extended the restriction to new owners of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, stopping them from installing benchmarks as well, in what is possibly an even more remarkable action. Although this won’t prevent users from sideloading the applications, as was previously noted, it will surely help prevent the wider dissemination of knowledge regarding the performance and efficiency concerns around the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.

While Pixel enthusiasts would undoubtedly disagree, a smartphone doesn’t necessary need to be the fastest in order to be useful. In contrast to Apple and Samsung, who sell similarly priced flagship phones with chips that are faster, more efficient, and even have faster hardware-based AI/ML acceleration, the Tensor G3 performs more in line with smartphones priced in the mid-range segment of the market.

Google is obviously making every effort to keep customers focused on its strengths, which include its leadership in software-based AI capabilities, its outstanding cameras, and its high-end design and build quality.

However, preventing reviewers and regular users from downloading and installing well-known benchmarking programs is an indication that a business is unwilling to abide by the marketing promises it has made about the Tensor G3. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be attempting to prevent users and reviewers from independently verifying such assertions.

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