One of the biggest internal changes that Google brought to the Pixel 10 lineup was introducing the new Tensor G5, making it the company’s first silicon to adopt TSMC’s 3nm process. An early look at the SoC revealed that it was faster than the Tensor G4 in the compute category, but at the time, no figures were available related to the GPU, until now. The latest comparison has some disappointing numbers to share, but before potential buyers quickly backtrack on their decision to upgrade to one of Google’s latest flagships, there is a reason why the Tensor G5 GPU is performing this way.
Google says the Tensor G5 CPU is 34 percent faster than the Tensor G4, but the insanely low scores belonging to the graphics processor are not because it is slow
Looking at the comparison shared by @lafaiel on X, the Pixel 10 Pro GPU only manages to obtain a score of 3,707 points in Geekbench 6’s Vulkan category, with last year’s Pixel 9 Pro securing more than twice the Tensor G5’s results. As you can guess, the iPhone 16 Pro and Galaxy S25+ were miles ahead of the Pixel 10 Pro, which makes you wonder if Google resorted to making the GPU intentionally slow to save costs. The advertising giant briefed members of the press that the unnamed graphics processor does not support ray tracing, making it a major component that is missing from the specifications.
In the second comparison, you can clearly see that the Pixel 9 Pro is significantly faster than its immediate successor, attaining up to a 323 percent improvement in various Geekbench 6 tests, so what exactly is happening? While Google has a habit of cutting corners without informing its customers, it has done no such thing with the Tensor G5. On the thread where @lafaiel posted the benchmark results, one eagle-eyed individual has commented that the GPU drivers have not been updated, which is why Geekbench 6 is displaying such poor scores from the SoC.
When we looked closely at the graphics processor’s clock speed, it only operated at 396MHz instead of the default 1,100MHz. On the same thread, @cozy_OSS has stated that the PowerVR DXT part is ‘Vulkan 1.4 conformant’ while the Pixel 10 Pro driver is currently ‘stuck at Vulkan 1.1.’ Hopefully, we will witness a drastic improvement once these changes are made, and we will revisit Geekbench 6 soon.
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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