Gaming on the Pixel 10 is not fairly proper now

After testing out common Android emulators on the Pixel 10 Professional XL and final 12 months’s Pixel 9 Professional XL, I got here away disillusioned. Efficiency is notably worse on the brand new mannequin, making some video games far much less pleasurable and others outright not possible to play. The Tensor G5 processor’s change to an Creativeness Applied sciences DXT-48-1536 graphics unit looks as if an actual step backward.

Making an attempt to emulate basic consoles — particularly the 3D ones — is at all times a tough ask, however what about video games constructed particularly for Android? Nicely, I examined these too, and as soon as once more, the outcomes are a combined bag for Google’s newest flagship.

For this spherical, I used the identical two telephones and ran by means of a couple of of the preferred Android titles from current years. Name of Responsibility: Cell’s Battle Royale mode helps excessive body charges (as much as 120fps, relying on the cellphone) on Medium graphics, so I loaded that up with antialiasing enabled to emphasize the GPU. Subsequent, I ran Asphalt Legends for a extra constant playthrough. Neither cellphone helps the sport’s 120fps mode, so I maxed out the graphics to see how they’d deal with it.

Genshin Influence stays as common as ever, so I booted it as much as see how each telephones would carry out at most settings with the 60fps cap. A focal point: the Pixel 9 runs Genshin through the Vulkan API, whereas the Pixel 10 makes use of OpenGL, so the comparability isn’t fairly one-to-one.

You possibly can try some gameplay clips with efficiency overlays within the video above, however let’s dive into the ends in extra element.

Trying on the efficiency overview, it’s clearly a combined bag, with neither cellphone managing to lock the utmost body price in any of those titles. Google’s latest flagship pulls forward in Genshin Influence however performs worse in Asphalt Legends, notably within the lowest 5% of frames. In the meantime, COD Cell reveals the 2 handsets are nearly neck and neck. In any case, the newer Pixel 10 Professional XL isn’t an outright winner, although it delivers acceptable sufficient efficiency to maintain these video games playable even with the settings cranked up.

We see extra significant discrepancies within the deeper information. In Asphalt Legends, for instance, the Pixel 10 Professional XL by no means fairly reaches 60fps, whereas the 9 Professional XL often does, which is mirrored in its larger common body price.

Apparently, the Pixel 10 Professional XL displays considerably extra “jank”—frames that take longer than 100ms to render, inflicting noticeable microstutter. This occurs most frequently when loading and beginning races, although it drops barely fewer frames than final 12 months’s mannequin throughout gameplay.

On the larger body charges of COD Cell’s Battle Royale mode, the Pixel 10 Professional XL struggles extra with consistency. Though the common and worst-case body charges are comparable between the 2 telephones, we once more see extra jank on the brand new mannequin. I counted 288 frames over 100ms on the ten Professional XL and none on the 9 Professional XL, leading to a smoother expertise on the older gadget.

If there’s one disadvantage for the Pixel 9 Professional XL, it runs barely hotter on the finish of this 13-minute check. Nevertheless, neither cellphone seems to throttle efficiency throughout that point.

Lastly, Genshin Influence showcases a notable efficiency win for the Pixel 10 Professional XL, presumably as a result of its use of a special graphics API. Whereas it could actually’t maintain a locked 60fps, it hovers comfortably above 50 more often than not, offering a smoother expertise than the 9 Professional XL, which averages nearer to 40fps. Nevertheless, we noticed a one-off interval of great jank on the ten XL across the one-minute mark, whereas the 9 XL delivered 28 frames exceeding 100ms.

The Pixel 9 Professional XL doesn’t seem like working particularly exhausting right here — its temperature is much decrease than the ten XL’s — and we often see spikes above 40fps. It’s unclear why its body price stays so low. I retested a number of occasions and noticed the identical end result every run, suggesting both a deliberate software program optimization for battery life or a bug within the Android 16 construct I’m working.

Whereas the Pixel 10’s Tensor G5 ensures all these video games run acceptably if not brilliantly, the outcomes aren’t nice contemplating the cellphone typically takes a step again from final 12 months’s mannequin. Nevertheless, there are different, extra evident issues on the subject of Android gaming.

Energy is a giant one. In response to Android’s system-level battery information, the Pixel 10 Professional XL attracts significantly extra energy to attain its efficiency edge in Genshin Influence — an unsustainable 7.2W common throughout gameplay that can drain the battery shortly. Equally regarding, it consumes extra energy in Asphalt Legends whereas delivering worse efficiency. Durations with spikes reaching as excessive as 17W are completely unacceptable.

Energy consumption is nearer in COD Cell, the place the Pixel 9 Professional XL is marginally hungrier than the ten Professional XL, however the distinction isn’t vital in comparison with the opposite checks.

One other main problem is recreation compatibility. Some titles merely aren’t supported on PowerVR GPUs. The very good Alien Isolation, as an example, is out there on older Pixel fashions going again a number of years, however I can’t set up it on my Pixel 10. Though Genshin Influence nonetheless runs, as we’ve seen, the favored title has dropped assist for PowerVR GPUs, just like the one discovered within the Pixel 10 collection, which can result in stability points or graphical glitches in components of the sport I haven’t examined. There are undoubidly many different examples.

Talking of glitches, in the event you watch the Pixel 10 Professional XL efficiency video of COD Cell with anti-aliasing enabled, you’ll discover numerous artifacts affecting foliage and automobiles. These disappear when AA is disabled, nevertheless it’s precisely the type of problem that crops up on platforms with restricted driver assist.

Many have speculated that these issues could stem, no less than partly, from the cellphone transport with an older PowerVR DXT-48-1536 GPU driver (v24.3). Creativeness Applied sciences launched an up to date driver (v25.1) in August, including Android 16 compatibility, Vulkan 1.4 assist, and extra. Nevertheless, Google hasn’t rolled it out to the Pixel 10 collection but— and driver updates are traditionally gradual.

I requested about plans for the Pixel 10 driver releases and acquired the next response from a Google spokesperson.

We’re persevering with to enhance driver high quality in our month-to-month and quarterly system updates. For instance, the latest September and October patch releases included driver enhancements: https://assist.google.com/pixelphone/thread/379076388?hl=en. In future releases we’re planning additional GPU driver updates.

It’s good to listen to Google is planning enhancements, however the assertion is imprecise and affords no concrete timeline or assurance of great efficiency positive factors. The newest updates seem to incorporate solely minor bug fixes somewhat than the long-awaited driver overhaul. We’ll have to attend and see if issues enhance — however optimism is difficult to come back by.

Whereas Google’s newest flagship affords satisfactory efficiency for common Android titles, severe cellular players ought to maintain off earlier than leaping on the Pixel 10 collection. If you happen to can’t wait, final 12 months’s Pixel 9 lineup may truly provide higher efficiency, particularly for emulators, and nearly actually at a lower cost.