Earlier this week, Google released this month"s Android Pixel Security Update, promising a bunch of fixes and imrpovements. For example, camera quality in third-party apps is getting better, there"s a VPN fix, and more. One improvement listed was "performance optimizations for certain graphics-intensive apps & games" on the Pixel 4a 5G and the Pixel 5.
But apparently, the GPU performance gains are more than anyone would have guessed in the changelog. According to Der Standard"s Andreas Proschofsky, the Pixel 5 is actually getting more along the lines of up to a 50% performance boost.
Turns out the Pixel 5 is now getting way better results in 3DMark. Like in 30-50 percent better compared to a P5 w March patch level. Even the results in general benchmarks like PCMark Work are a bit better (even though in this case really only just a bit). 2/ pic.twitter.com/58Ze5qFE6d
— Andreas Proschofsky (@suka_hiroaki) April 5, 2021
Of course, benchmarks don"t necessarily translate to real-world performance, but a 30-50% increase in benchmark scores is nothing to ignore. According to Ars Technica, this isn"t necessarily about making a good product better; it"s about fixing the state of a broken product.
Google has been criticized by many for its choice to use a Snapdragon 765G chipset in the Pixel 5, as opposed to the flagship Snapdragon 865. Naturally, with the weaker CPU and GPU, any optimization is going to be welcomed by Pixel 5 owners.