The Pixel 10’s Tensor G5 comes with a shockingly weak GPU on paper

With every new Pixel launch, there’s a huge amount of excitement around what the latest generation of the Tensor chip will bring to the table. This year, with the move to TSMC for fabrication, hopes were high for the new Tensor G5 in the Pixel 10 series. And while it delivers on many of its AI promises along with a solid bump in single and multi-core CPU performance, as I’ve started digging into the benchmarks, a massive, glaring weakness has emerged that is hard to ignore: its GPU performance is incredibly poor (at least on paper).

The numbers don’t lie, and they are brutal

To understand how far behind the Pixel 10 is, we just need to look at the raw data from Geekbench 6’s GPU compute test. The numbers are damning when compared to the competition.

• Pixel 10 Pro XL (Tensor G5): 3729
• Galaxy S25 Ultra (Snapdragon 8 Elite): 23858
• Galaxy Z Fold7: 25597

Let’s just pause on that for a second. The Pixel 10’s direct competitors, the phones it is priced against (I included the Z Fold 7 to make this point for the upcoming Pixel 10 Pro Fold as well), are posting GPU scores that are 6-7X higher. That’s not a small gap; that is a chasm. But it gets worse. Let’s compare the Pixel 10 to some older devices from last year:

• Galaxy Z Fold 5 (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2): 9130
• Pixel 9 Pro XL (Tensor G4): 9058
• Pixel 9a (Tensor G4): 9062

That’s right. The brand-new Tensor G5 is not even a similar performer to last year’s Tensor G4 and is actually outperformed by the nearly two-year-old Snapdragon chip in the Z Fold 5 and by Google’s one-year-old Tensor G4 chip by roughly 150%. This explains why games and graphically intensive tasks can struggle a bit on the brand-new Pixel from time to time, and I honestly cannot believe this is the case.

This is a misstep in my opinion

I understand that Google’s focus with Tensor is on the NPU and accelerating on-device AI tasks. But that simply cannot be an excuse for neglecting a core component like the GPU this badly. A powerful GPU isn’t just for gamers; it impacts the smoothness of the UI, video rendering and editing, and the phone’s ability to handle more demanding apps in the future.

To be fair, I’ve not had issues running games I want to play, technically, but there are clear drops in performance. COD:Mobile won’t allow me to bump things up to max resolution, and PUBG Mobile stutters and hiccups when in HDR mode and really struggles in the UHD option (though it did allow me to actually push it to that level, unlike COD: Mobile). For PUBG, I was getting constant reminders to adjust the graphics for better gameplay. And don’t even think about trying to run Fortnite, here.

To release a flagship phone in 2025 with GPU performance that is this far behind the curve isn’t just a small compromise; it feels like a complete misstep. It sends a message that high graphic performance isn’t really a priority for Pixel any longer, which is a tough pill to swallow for a device that costs well $1000.

Regardless of the target audience, a flagship phone should feel like a flagship across the board. While the Pixel 10 Pro XL has an amazing camera, gorgeous build quality, a lovely UI/UX thanks to Android 16, and some fascinating AI tricks up its sleeve, this one massive, glaring hardware flaw is something every potential buyer needs to be aware of. And if you are like me, it has you very hesitant to put this one in your pocket.