Google did not allow benchmarking programs to be installed on Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro during the lockdown, and these two flagship phones were supposed to be evaluated during the lockdown to let the media know in advance how these models would perform against the competition. Now, the company has admitted that it blocked testing of its latest phones, and the reasons aren't that convincing.In response to an email, Google said it did not want the benchmark results of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro review units to "leak" out.
To get to the bottom of things, Notebookcheck's Sanjiv Sathiah contacted Google to ask if benchmarks for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro were intentionally blocked during the lockdown. Initially, it was thought that an API mismatch or compatibility issue might be causing the issue. Initially, users would see a "This app is not available for your device" message whenever running the benchmark on these devices. Google eventually responded to what happened, but the company's response was less than satisfactory.
Google said it blocked benchmarking apps on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro to prevent their scores from being leaked. However, the giant also recognized that users could easily sideload these apps and run benchmarks, so blocking them initially didn't do anything. The reason why Google doesn’t want reviewers to announce TensorG3 performance is obvious. Earlier leaked information showed that the chip's speed is actually worse than the A14 Bionic built into Apple's iPhone 12 series from three years ago.
In addition, before the release, it was reported that both phones suffered from significant overheating, and the Pixel 8 scored even lower than the previous generation, which may be due to the lack of effective heat dissipation and the efficiency of the TensorG3 itself. It goes without saying that, historically, Google's Tensor family has always performed worse than its competitors in real-world testing. Although the advertising giant tried to deflect these criticisms by touting Tensor's artificial intelligence and imaging capabilities, it did nothing to solve the problem.
Fortunately, Google plans to eventually close the performance gap and match or exceed the current level of development of its competitors. The company intends to turn to TSMC to develop its own more advanced CPU cores in an attempt to compete with Apple's A-series chips, but that won't happen before 2025.