Google Pixel 8 Pro and Tensor G3 appear on Geekbench ahead of launch with disappointing CPU scores

[Redaktion]

Ahead of its scheduled October 4 debut, Google's upcoming Pixel 8 Pro flagship phone has now surfaced on Geekbench. As is typical with the Tensor lineup, CPU performance lags behind the competition, but still manages to perform about 20% better than last year's model.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Google-Pixel-8-Pro-and-Tensor-G3-appear-on-Geekbench-ahead-of-launch-with-disappointing-CPU-scores.756901.0.html

[indy]

Just waiting for Black Friday Sale.  If a Trade-in is > whatever Swappa offers for my current phone and there's a > $150 sale on a Pixel 8, I'll bite.  This is what I did last year and I don't see myself ever wavering from this strategy again.

Now that support policies are 4+ years, there's no risk in waiting for phones to drop to reasonable prices.

[Ivan385]

I don't know what is the goal of this article other than provoke or trash talk products on totally irelevant points. Every flagship phone of today has 250% performance it needs to perform 99% of the tasks an average user needs. Hell, they can downclock the CPU and you wouldn't notice a difference. And the article blasts performance as its the worst of its kind, while the only relevant point, that it is an upgrade compared to the last years model, is barely mentioned at the end. Good luck in you writing career with this kind of articles. Disappointing, just as the Tensor 3.

[RB]

How are you missing the goal of the article? Last years (sry snapdragon gen +1 is 2 years old now) Android phones are faster than this year's unreleased pixels. And no you cannot downgrade a cpu/gpu because the apps are getting hungrier for resources as time passes. You're no longer running gen 1 temple run. You have apps requiring raytracing now. One of the biggest issues with last year's pixels were overheating and battery drain, this was caused by an underperforming chipset trying to run the latest software. Google is cheeping out, so instead of attacking the messenger (writer of this article), aim at Google for failing yet again by going cheap on their hardware.

[Antonioni]

How are you missing the goal of the article? Last years (sry snapdragon gen +1 is 2 years old now) Android phones are faster than this year's unreleased pixels. And no you cannot downgrade a cpu/gpu because the apps are getting hungrier for resources as time passes. You're no longer running gen 1 temple run. You have apps requiring raytracing now. One of the biggest issues with last year's pixels were overheating and battery drain, this was caused by an underperforming chipset trying to run the latest software. Google is cheeping out, so instead of attacking the messenger (writer of this article), aim at Google for failing yet again by going cheap on their hardware.

How are you missing the goal of the article? Last years (sry snapdragon gen +1 is 2 years old now) Android phones are faster than this year's unreleased pixels. And no you cannot downgrade a cpu/gpu because the apps are getting hungrier for resources as time passes. You're no longer running gen 1 temple run. You have apps requiring raytracing now. One of the biggest issues with last year's pixels were overheating and battery drain, this was caused by an underperforming chipset trying to run the latest software. Google is cheeping out, so instead of attacking the messenger (writer of this article), aim at Google for failing yet again by going cheap on their hardware.

I don't think they are "cheeping[sic] out" because i don't think the prices of these ip change much from year-to-year thus i wouldn't expect much in the way of cost savings from these measures.
Pixel phones run hot because exynos run hot. Blame the ip and the fabs.
We'll see if Google's 2025 offering changes things.

[Bryan]

How are you missing the goal of the article? Last years (sry snapdragon gen +1 is 2 years old now) Android phones are faster than this year's unreleased pixels. And no you cannot downgrade a cpu/gpu because the apps are getting hungrier for resources as time passes. You're no longer running gen 1 temple run. You have apps requiring raytracing now. One of the biggest issues with last year's pixels were overheating and battery drain, this was caused by an underperforming chipset trying to run the latest software. Google is cheeping out, so instead of attacking the messenger (writer of this article), aim at Google for failing yet again by going cheap on their hardware.

How are you missing the goal of the article? Last years (sry snapdragon gen +1 is 2 years old now) Android phones are faster than this year's unreleased pixels. And no you cannot downgrade a cpu/gpu because the apps are getting hungrier for resources as time passes. You're no longer running gen 1 temple run. You have apps requiring raytracing now. One of the biggest issues with last year's pixels were overheating and battery drain, this was caused by an underperforming chipset trying to run the latest software. Google is cheeping out, so instead of attacking the messenger (writer of this article), aim at Google for failing yet again by going cheap on their hardware.

I don't think they are "cheeping[sic] out" because i don't think the prices of these ip change much from year-to-year thus i wouldn't expect much in the way of cost savings from these measures.
Pixel phones run hot because exynos run hot. Blame the ip and the fabs.
We'll see if Google's 2025 offering changes things.

They could've just modeled their chip after the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and added their specific customizations. Hell they could've used Mediatek's Dimensity 9000 series and been fine. They're definitely being cheap to keep the prices low.

[ArsLoginName]

I think both Ivan and RB are simultaneously right and wrong.

Ivan is right regarding the performance of the Tensor G3 doing whatever 90%+ of the people need it to do 90+% of the time without breaking a sweat. Or getting warm and not performing as well as RB wants. So if it performs 80% as well as an Samsung Galaxy S24 (single core leak 2200-ish)and costs 80% ($700 vs S24 $800 so S24 costs 15%-ish more) of the price, isn't that right in line with expectations?

[ArsLoginName]

I think both Ivan and RB are simultaneously right and wrong.

Ivan is right regarding the performance of the Tensor G3 doing whatever 90%+ of the people need it to do 90+% of the time without breaking a sweat. Or getting warm and not performing as well as RB wants. So if it performs 80% as well as an Samsung Galaxy S24 (single core leak 2200-ish)and costs 80% ($700 vs S24 $800 so S24 costs 15%-ish more) of the price, isn't that right in line with expectations?

[Fuqoff]

The author / writer is a moron. Anyone who actually uses snapgragon anything is a moron.. if you like Chinese garbage the dynasty chips you're a moron... Chinese phones are for trash.
Pixel and iPhones are the only phones worth buying...
Galaxys are bloated bogged down trash
Chinese phones are just Chinese garbage.

[Technerd]

Technically if you are only looking at the cpu in isolation and benchmark it as the only point of performance then yes the Tensor G3 is a disappointment. 

However this is only a small part of the truth in how a smartphone performs.  Most people who now Pixel phones understand this. Having the fastest processor isn't everything. Where Tensor G2 let us down was thermals and battery life. Performance was fine as long as thermals were in check.

So if Tensor G3 is 20% faster as this article states that is a pretty huge gain in one generation.  The next Pixel should feel significantly faster.

BUT beyond just performance upgrades we will be getting much better efficiency and battery life.  We will be getting upgraded architecture,  more cores, improved Tensor cores for even more AI features.  Let's not forget that AI also speeds up performance and AI is a specialization of the Tensor chip. We will be getting improved ufs 4.o storage. We will be getting better camera sensors.  We will be getting a flat screen on the 8 Pro. All in all the Pixel 8 looks to be a fantastic release building on the excellent Pixel 7 Pro.

[Xenofastiq]

How are you missing the goal of the article? Last years (sry snapdragon gen +1 is 2 years old now) Android phones are faster than this year's unreleased pixels. And no you cannot downgrade a cpu/gpu because the apps are getting hungrier for resources as time passes. You're no longer running gen 1 temple run. You have apps requiring raytracing now. One of the biggest issues with last year's pixels were overheating and battery drain, this was caused by an underperforming chipset trying to run the latest software. Google is cheeping out, so instead of attacking the messenger (writer of this article), aim at Google for failing yet again by going cheap on their hardware.

Literally WHAT apps are "requiring" raytracing now? 🤣 Barely any mobile games even have it in the first place, of any at all. Not to mention, no, overheating and battery drain was not necessarily because of the chip trying to run the latest software. There are a multitude of reasons, and as far as battery drain, the modem was a very big reason. If a Qualcomm chip can run the same software while being less powerful, then it has more to do with efficiency vs actual performance.

You completely fail to understand the reason as to why Tensor Pixels have the issues they have.

[Android_fan]

The author / writer is a moron. Anyone who actually uses snapgragon anything is a moron.. if you like Chinese garbage the dynasty chips you're a moron... Chinese phones are for trash.
Pixel and iPhones are the only phones worth buying...
Galaxys are bloated bogged down trash
Chinese phones are just Chinese garbage.

Wow. Way to shout out from the top of your lungs that you are a racist moron. Galaxys are Korean not chinese and Snapdragon anything is from Qualcomm A US company making chips at TSMC a Taiwanese company. Even Google phones are made there not in the US

[Theodore]

Don't compare chip to chip. Apple and Google design their hardware to work with their software vise versa. I'm still using a pixel 6 and still performing for what I use it for.

[Randy chan]

As a proud owner of Google's last Qualcomm powered phone(pixel 5) which uses the now dated 765G that still performs great and is reliable with no issues, I wish Google would have never ditched Qualcomm because it's obvious that the pixel 8 pro would have been way better served if it were powered by 8 gen 3 than tensor3. Google's custom tensor chip since it's introduction in 2021 has been a bust and is light years behind Qualcomm, the same company Google ditched. What a bad decision Google made and has under performed ever since.