Early Pixel 8 Pro GPU benchmarks will be disappointing for mobile gamers

The Google Pixel 8 Pro is the newest flagship phone to have been announced and it'll be on sale soon enough. But some people are already putting the phone through its paces and the initial benchmark results don't make for great reading if you plan on playing some of the heavier games on the device.

That's based on figures shared by one X user who puts the phone's new Tensor G3 up against some of the other chips out there, especially some of the older ones from the likes of Apple, MediaTek, and Qualcomm. The results also include Apple's M1 and M2 chips which isn't necessarily fair, although they do ship in tablets as well as Mac laptops.

The X post above includes a number of tables that show how the Pixel 8 Pro stacks up when running different tests including 3DMark, and GFXBench. The upshot? The Google Tesnro G3 is faster than the Tensor G2 that came before it. But when it comes to the competition, it still lags behind competing chips like the Apple A16 sold in the iPhone 15. The A17 Pro, part of the iPhone 15 Pro lineup, wasn't included in the tests.

But while that might not be so surprising, the chip is even slower than older chips when you compare GPU performance. The A15 and at times even the A14 best it, as do more recent chips like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and the MediaTek Dimensity 9200.

Realistically, these GPU benchmarks will really only likely impact people who are playing games, which might not be a problem for a huge number of buyers. But if you were planning to buy the Pixel 8 Pro and watch it chew through the best games available, you might want to look elsewhere.