Google recently launched the Pixel 10 series as its latest flagship phones. The devices have received positive reviews regarding photography and software features, but their chip performance has left something to be desired when we talk about more demanding tasks. The Tensor G5 has shown poor gaming performance for a chipset in its range. It also scores worse in benchmarks than all of its direct price rivals. Now, recent findings suggest that the Pixel 10 series’ Tensor G5 chip’s disappointing performance could be due to old GPU drivers.
Google’s Pixel 10 series is outperformed by its predecessor—here’s potentially why
On paper, the PowerVR DXT-48-1536 GPU inside the Pixel 10 should be pretty decent. It supports modern features like Vulkan 1.3 and has a theoretical performance of 1.5 TFLOPS. However, real-world benchmarks show the Pixel 10’s GPU performance is far below what its specs suggest. These devices barely score a third of what the Google Pixel 9 Pro achieved. To put that in perspective, the Pixel 10’s GPU score is a fraction of what competitors like the Galaxy S25 are getting.
Frustrated owners on social media have also been reporting all sorts of issues. From terrible battery drain during video playback to an inability to use video from popular action cameras, the experience can be frustrating.
The core of the problem, as many have discovered, seems to be a strange software issue. The GPU appears to be stuck at its low, idle frequency of 396MHz even when running demanding tasks. This is far below its rated 1GHz clock speed. As you can imagine, this limits its performance to levels worse than some mid-range phones.
Old GPU drivers could be holding back the Google Pixel 10’s GPU performance
The bizarre behavior is also reportedly causing compatibility and stability problems with games and emulators. Plus, users are seeing significant battery drainage just from watching videos on apps like YouTube and Instagram.
The most likely culprit is an outdated GPU driver, as the Google Pixel 10 series shipped with driver version v24.3. However, Imagination Technologies released a newer v25.1 driver that adds support for Android 16.
A software fix could be possible
Google has a history of rolling out GPU driver updates for its Tensor chips as part of major Android releases, delivering significant performance improvements in the process. This suggests that a fix could be possible for a future firmware release. The new driver could arrive with a future Android 16 beta, with a wider public release potentially happening with the December Feature Drop.
For now, though, users are left with a flagship phone that feels far from its full potential.
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