The Google Pixel 8 and Google Pixel 8 Pro have been out for a few weeks now, and the reviews haven't all been positive: gamers have found that the Tensor chips inside them don't deliver the raw power they'd like to have in mobile gaming, and as a result the flagships can struggle somewhat with more demanding games. A new free update from Google may change that.
The update is the December 2023 update for Google Pixel devices, and that update includes an improved driver for the ARM Mali GPU kernel. That driver replaces the existing one, dated August 2022, with a new one from October. And from what we're seeing from users, it delivers some much-needed improvements to gaming performance. It's not going to make a Tensor outperform a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 or 3, which has an Adreno GPU, but the improvements do appear to be significant.
