Google’s Tensor SOC Fails to Beat Apple’s Old A12 Bionic Chip in Benchmark Tests

Google's Tensor SOC on the Pixel 6 failed to outperform Apple's old A12 Bionic chip that was first seen on the iPhone XS last Sept. 14, 2018, in the latest benchmark tests.

As per WCCFTech, spectators are not expecting Google's Tensor chip to be the fastest SOC among its older rivals even when the tech giant officially announced it last August.

Some rumors also suggested that the focus of the Pixel phone maker is efficiency more than anything else.

As such, the latest benchmark results showed that the speed of Google's flagship chip is lagging behind even a three-year-old SOC from the Cupertino giant.

So, the earlier rumors might be true after all--but Google has yet to confirm it. And so far, what is clear is that the chip inside the Google Pixel 6 Pro is not the quickest choice.

Google Tensor vs. A12 Bionic Chip

A Twitter user that goes by the name 9lekt provided an overview of the Geekbench 5 scores of both the A12 Bionic and Tensor SOCs, showing that the latter still has the power to boast given its age.

It is worth noting that the three-year-old A12 Bionic chip even made its way to Apple's 8th generation iPad last Sept. 15, 2020.

The said SOC upgrade for the iPad in 2020 was touted by the iPhone maker to be a significant improvement from the performance of its predecessor, which carried the A10 processor, according to the report of Engadget.

To be precise, the Apple A12 Bionic outperformed Google's Tensor in both the single-core and multi-core benchmark scores.

The SOC or the iPhone XS got an 1117 single-core score and a 2932 multi-score score. On the other hand, the chip of the Pixel 6 Pro got a 1012 single-core score and a 2760 multi-core score.

Nevertheless, WCCFTech further noted in the same report that benchmark results do not really tell the real-world performance of a device. The disappointing numbers of the Pixel 6 Pro could still massively improve through some optimization, but it still shows its limits.

On top of that, even if Google's Tensor failed to beat Apple's old SOC, it still competes fairly with most Android flagship offerings in the market.

However, it is worth noting that the Google Pixel 6 and the Google Pixel 6 Pro have yet to release commercially. Thus, there is not much real-life usage data available out there to further prove that the Tensor chip actually lags behind an aging Apple chip.

Google Tensor Chip on Google Pixel 6

Google first announced last Aug. 2 that the Pixel 6 series, its flagship phone lineup, will be showcasing its first system-on-chip of SoC that goes by the name Tensor.

During that time, the CEO of the tech giant, Sundar Pichai, revealed that it took Google four years before releasing its own SoC commercially.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Teejay Boris