TECH NEWS – Despite having a larger battery, the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL ran out of power sooner in a benchmark test. The Google Tensor G5 is clearly a flawed SoC (system-on-a-chip). While this application processor delivers outstanding performance in AI-related tasks, it lags behind its competitors in most other areas. Nevertheless, the new battery life test of the Samsung Galaxy S26 has starkly highlighted the numerous shortcomings of the Tensor G5 chip.

The Tensor G5 features an octa-core CPU (one high-performance 3.78 GHz Cortex-X4 core; five mid-range 3.05 GHz Cortex-A725 cores; and two efficiency cores at 2.25 GHz), a fifth-generation TPU for machine learning and artificial intelligence workloads, and an Imagination IMG DXT-48-1536 GPU. This 1.10 GHz PowerVR series integrated GPU has a clock speed of 1.10 GHz and comparable theoretical performance to other high-end mobile GPUs, such as the Adreno 732/740 and the ARM Mali G715 MP7. However, it lacks ray tracing support and includes a Samsung Exynos 5G modem.

The Tensor G5 chip has two critical flaws. First, Google used nearly three-year-old ARM CPU cores to cut costs, which is reflected in the AP’s declining performance compared to competitors’. Second, despite Google‘s close collaboration with Imagination on developing the new IMG PowerVR DXT-48-1536 GPU, which recently received critical software updates, the GPU delivers below-average performance at best.

New battery life tests on the Samsung Galaxy S26 have brought all of the Tensor G5‘s shortcomings into sharp contrast. Despite having a battery capacity that is approximately 1,000 mAh smaller than that of the Pixel 10 Pro XL, the Galaxy S26 lasts more than three hours longer in video playback tests and nearly twice as long during gaming. On average, the Galaxy S26 lasts 15 hours and 20 minutes with active use, compared to 12 hours and 29 minutes for the Pixel 10 Pro XL.

This test clearly shows that cramming extra mAh into the battery is insignificant if the AP is as unoptimized as the Tensor G5.

Source: WCCFTech