Google gave its Pixel phones a stealthy but powerful GPU boost

Pixel phones are not known for their performance. Despite their premium price, the Tensor chips powering Google’s phones lag a generation or two behind other flagship mobile SoCs, and that's with inferior power efficiency. The Mali GPU inside Tensor SoCs doesn’t impress either, falling noticeably short of Snapdragon’s Adreno GPU, which is why gamers tend to steer clear of Pixel phones. Unlike other phone manufacturers, Google can leverage its software expertise to extract more performance from its Tensor chips, and that’s precisely what it has been doing quietly, making its GPUs faster with updates.