Google blocks reviewers from using Geekbench on Pixel 8
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I wonder why...
Notebookcheck recently broke the story about the fact that Google appears to have blocked writers reviewing its new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro devices from being able to easily install popular benchmark apps like Geekbench 6 and 3D Mark during the embargo period. It was a highly unusual move and raised questions about Google’s motivations for doing so. Google has made about the capabilities of the Tensor G3 chip at the heart of its latest Pixels, in particular its AI performance. However, in being unable to install the app, many reviewers were unable to test Google’s claims by running the benchmarks, as is standard practice for most reviews as it provides an objective and standardized way of assessing chip performance.
One of the principal benchmarks used by reviewers is Geekbench. It is a popular cross-platform benchmarking utility that is primarily used to assess CPU performance, although it also has a GPU compute suite too. The test assesses both a chip’s single-core performance and its multi-core performance, and is it is also a “cross-platform” test. This means the results it produces can be compared across different devices like mobile phones and laptops, operating systems like Android and Windows, and across chips made by the likes of Apple, Intel, Qualcomm, Google, Samsung, MediaTek, and AMD.
When Geekbench was recently updated to version 6, it added the ability to test new application areas including AR performance and also putting a greater emphasis on machine learning, which powers a chip’s AI potential. It is also used and endorsed by companies including Samsung, Microsoft, AMD, Dell, HP, LG, MediaTek and more. As such, you might think that given the way Google touts the AI performance of its Tensor chipsets, this would be a benchmark that Google would be happy for reviewers to install on their Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro units. There were reviewers with the requisite knowledge to by-pass Google’s Play Store block by simply downloading the app package for Geekbench 6 and installing it manually using a process known as side-loading.
The results Geekbench 6 produced by the Tensor G3 were unflattering - both during the review embargo period and following. Some Pixel fans have posted theories that there was a compatability issue with the benchmarks and Android 14, and that Google hadn’t deliberately blocked their easy installation. This however fails to explain why the apps could be sideloaded and could be run successfully, or why the results pre- and post-block were on no different.
