Having thoroughly benchmarked the latest flagship smartphones 2026 has to offer, it’s become increasingly clear there’s a growing divide between Google’s Pixel series and just about everyone else. I hate to rehash the same old tales, but Google’s Tensor chipset is significantly slower than its competitors, especially in gaming. Not that the Tensor G5 isn’t serviceable for most tasks, but when you’re spending over $1,000 and competing products can offer double the performance or more, it begs the question: what exactly are Google’s priorities?
If you comb through years of Pixel press releases and marketing material, Android gaming receives only a cursory mention compared to this decade’s big tech buzzword — AI. In fact, you won’t find gaming mentioned on the official Pixel 10 product page at all. Compared with handset and silicon rivals who have been happy to tout double-digit improvements virtually year on year, Google has gone AWOL in one of mobile’s most popular hobbies.
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