Ron Amadeo
Nearly six months after the release of the Pixel 5, Google has revamped the way the GPU works and raised the phone to the level you would expect from a Snapdragon 765G phone. The April 2021 security update for the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a (5G) received a comment saying that it contains “performance optimizations for certain graphics-intensive applications and games”. Practical testing reveals that the update appears to dramatically improve the Pixel 5 GPU, and according to some programs and metrics shows performance improvements of up to 50 percent.
We do not have a Pixel 5 on hand to test, but Andreas Proschofsky van Der Standard let the internet know that he sees a “30-50 percent better” performance in 3DMark after the update. Andrei Frumusanu from Anandtech confirms that the performance has essentially doubled from the published scores [in Anandtech’s review], and in line or better than other 765G phones, adding that ‘the fact that it took 6 months, however, is sad.’ Hmm. Yes.
It may seem impossible to add 50 percent better performance from a mere software update, but Google is just fixing the awful condition of the launch phone. There was simply so much room for improvement compared to other phones. When we reviewed the device, we called it ‘the world’s slowest Snapdragon 765G phone’, noting that other Snapdragon 765G smartphones, such as the OnePlus Nord, could wipe the floor with the device in head-to-head GPUs. standards. It was not a great look for the Pixel 5, which already faced a switch to mid-range hardware, which means it would be slower than the Pixel 4. By measure we can place exact numbers on the changes, but is not a trick of measure; the numbers reflect the actual performance in terms of 3D games, which was terrible on the Pixel 5.
Google says that the April 2021 security update also comes with improving the quality of the camera for third-party apps, a solution to a problem that may freeze at startup, and a solution to some missing settings on the home screen . The update will now start running on Pixel phones – just press the update button.