New Google Pixel 8 leak suddenly arrives – will Tensor 3 delight or disappoint?

Despite the Pixel Fold launching this month, attention has already turned to the Google Pixel 8 which is surely going to arrive later this year.  The latest leak for Google's next flagship doesn't make good reading for Pixel fans. 

According to leaker Tech_Reve on Twitter, the Geekbench (a CPU performance benchmarking software) scores for the Tensor G3 chip that's thought to be included in the Pixel 8 are pretty lacking. Especially when compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 silicon its rivals will likely utilise. 

On Geekbench 5, Tensor G3 posted a 1,186 single-core score and a 3,809 multi-core showing. The Snapdragon scores were more promising with a single-core effort of 1,700 and a multi-core rating of 6,600. This would suggest that the Pixel 8's performance will lag behind the next wave of Android devices, and by a significant amount. 

In practice, however, it should be a different story. The Tensor G2 chipset on the Pixel 7 Pro has similarly low scores compared to the competition but this hasn't stopped it from being one of the best phones out there, with excellent performance. So what's going on?

Google itself is not bothered about benchmark scores. The Tensor chipset may not score great for raw power, but the Pixel range features some of the best machine learning and AI features of any phone. Benchmark tests are a very specific use case, not necessarily representative of how people actually use their phones.

With Pixel phones always getting some extra love from Google compared to other Android devices, we're excited to see what the Pixel 8 has in store for us.