Pixel 10’s Tensor G5 chip runs cooler, so far, but remains unimpressive in benchmarks

Ben Schoon | Aug 27 2025 - 2:00 pm PT

The story of Google’s Tensor chipsets has been one full of compromise and slow improvements over time, but Google says that the Pixel 10’s Tensor G5 is its “biggest leap in performance yet.” Now that early reviews have arrived, we can talk about what it’s like to use, and also see the (still unimpressive) benchmarks.

From the beginning, Google has said time and time again that it isn’t concerned with topping the performance charts with Tensor chips. These aren’t about being the best of the best, but rather providing a good experience tailor-fit to what Google wants to see out of a phone – namely, AI.

And, for the most part, Tensor has lived up to that.

There were some serious hiccups during that first year, but Google quickly addressed problems with cellular reception and performance, with subsequent generations of Tensor improving. By the time of 2023’s Pixel 8 series, Tensor G3’s last big problem was around overheating, a problem that continued to be addressed in the Pixel 9 series, but seems mostly solved in the Pixel 10.

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In our time with the Pixel 10 series, our team agrees that this generation is running far cooler than any predecessors and, in many cases, just as cool as the competition. Damien Wilde explains in our Pixel 10 review:

I haven’t noticed any overheating, and the phone doesn’t get particularly hot to the touch, save a few times during setup—basically like every phone in existence. I’m hoping that cooling and temperatures remain key focus points for the SoC’s future development, as heat and power management haven’t been Tensor’s greatest strength.

In my own personal experience with the Pixel 10 Pro XL – review coming on Friday – I’ve noticed that Tensor G5 simply doesn’t heat up in normal, day-to-day use as Tensor G4 did, both in the Pixel 9 Pro XL and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. In fact, I’ve found it runs cooler than both the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Nothing Phone (3) I’ve most recently used, which is a remarkable change of pace. That said, it does still warm up while gaming, though it seems to heat up quickly and then stabilize, never really getting “hot” to the touch. It’s a step above last year’s Pixel 9 Pro XL, which did the same but consistently ran a bit warmer.

Google knew that overheating was a major problem, and it really seems as though this generation finally fixes it. That said, it’s definitely a little too early to fully cement that, as everyone talking about the Pixel 10 today has really only had their hands on it for a week at most.

But what about the raw performance?

In real-life, there’s no major difference in day-to-day tasks or gaming on the Pixel 10 series, and the benchmarks certainly back that up. GSMArena and ShortCircuit found that benchmarks score a bit higher on the Pixel 10 series compared to their Pixel 9 counterparts, but well behind Snapdragon-powered rivals. Android Authority found similar results, and adds that there’s a smaller performance gap between the base Pixel 10 and the Pro devices compared to previous generation. GSMArena notes that demanding titles like Genshin Impact can’t keep a steady 60fps at its highest settings. GPU benchmarks show that Tensor G5’s new GPU is well behind that of the competition.

Interestingly, though, Tensor G5 keeps up its power for longer compared to rivals. Some benchmarks show “stability” – the difference between the highest and lowest scores – is very high on Pixel compared to even rivals like the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Raw performance isn’t as good, but it holds what performance it has for longer, which also supports our experience with the heat generation ramping up quickly but not getting worse with time. Results may vary depending on the game you’re playing, of course.

Top comment by Roadie

Liked by 28 people

Doesn't it say something about Android gaming that they always just pick from a small handful of old titles that most people know about because they're really not that many big titles on Android compared to something like a Steam library.

Are they still thinking mainstream consumers look at phones as gaming devices first?

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What does all of this mean for you as the end user?

Tensor G5, like prior generations, still isn’t nearly the most powerful chipset on the market today. But this generation has seen some improvements and, if early results are anything to go by, the issues with overheating have mostly been addressed – finally.

Our Abner Li puts it nicely in our Pixel 10 Pro review:

There will be traditional gains every year, like Tensor G5’s CPU being 34% faster — an improvement that’s not really noticeable in day-to-day usage, but what Google really cares about is making possible more on-device generative AI.

So far, it feels like any improvements made by the move to TSMC and the latest 3nm process have predominately been used for AI rather than those traditional improvements or even battery. This highly anticipated switch does not vault Tensor to the leaderboards that those with performance-based complaints, like mobile gamers, care about. That being said, Google met the threshold for performance ages ago and Tensor is good for the vast majority of people, myself included.