Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Multiple Pixel phone users are reporting significant boosts in Geekbench GPU scores after updating to the Android 16 beta.
- Android Authority can confirm that Pixel phones are performing better in this benchmark since launch, but that this is also the case on the most recent Android 15 stable release.
- The reason for this performance increase hasn’t been confirmed but likely has to do with recent GPU driver updates.
While Google Pixel phones certainly aren’t the cream of the crop when it comes to raw GPU performance, they can still play most of the best mobile games and handle a lot of graphically demanding tasks. They may not perform as well as other flagship phones with different chipsets, though. However, all hope’s not lost for Pixel fans, because GPU performance isn’t set in stone from the factory. Post-launch software updates can eke out more performance from the GPU, and recent Android updates appear to have given Pixel phones a big boost in GPU performance.
Pixel users on Reddit’s /r/Pixel_Phones community recently reported achieving significantly higher Geekbench 6 GPU scores. The increase is particularly evident in Vulkan API benchmark results, compared to historical Pixel Geekbench 6 averages. Typically, benchmarking is performed around a device’s launch, so the average score likely reflects initial performance. Seeing percent increases like 62% for a Pixel 7a, 31% for a Pixel 8, and 32% for a Pixel 9 highlights a significant improvement across the board.
Reddit users attribute this boost in GPU performance to changes in Android 16. However, my Pixel 6a is running the latest stable release of Android 15, and it still saw a nearly 23% increase in the Geekbench 6 GPU benchmark. In fact, my Pixel 6a scored a total of 8252 points in the test, outperforming even the Pixel 9 Pro. Therefore, it’s unlikely that anything particular in Android 16 is responsible for this boost in GPU performance.
The boost likely results from Google shipping newer GPU drivers in recent Android updates. All Tensor-powered Pixels use an Arm Mali GPU, but they do not ship with the latest available GPU driver version. Specifically, the GPU driver in the Android 15 update for Tensor G1, G2, and G3 Pixels was released by Arm in February 2024. For Tensor G4 Pixels, the driver was released in December 2023. Google has shipped newer GPU drivers with subsequent quarterly releases, coinciding with Pixel Drop updates, and the Android 16 beta includes an even newer GPU driver.
Here is a table I made that lists the Arm Mali GPU driver version for all Tensor-powered Pixels for Android 15 and later:
| Android Version | Tensor G1 Pixels | Tensor G2 Pixels | Tensor G3 Pixels | Tensor G4 Pixels |
| Android 15 | r48p0 | r48p0 | r48p0 | r47p0 |
| Android 15 QPR1 | r49p0 | r49p0 | r49p0 | r49p0 |
| Android 15 QPR2 | r51p0 | r51p0 | r51p0 | r51p0 |
| Android 16 (Beta 3) | r52p0 | r52p0 | r52p0 | r52p0 |
And here is a table I made that lists the release date for each GPU driver version:
| Mali GPU Kernel Driver Version | Release Date |
| r47p0 | 2023-12-14 |
| r48p0 | 2024-02-19 |
| r49p0 | 2024-04-18 |
| r51p0 | 2024-08-14 |
| r52p0 | 2024-10-03 |
While improved benchmark scores don’t always guarantee better real-world performance, the Geekbench GPU test “measures GPU compute performance for everyday tasks, including machine learning and computer vision, using tests that model real-world applications,” so it’s very likely the increased performance will be reflected in some real-world tasks. However, how much of an impact it’ll have depends on whether apps use the Vulkan graphics API and whether they use features that got a big improvement in the recent driver update. Further testing is needed to quantify real-world performance gains and identify which apps benefit most significantly.
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