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Ryan Haines \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n
Google\u2019s second major quarterly release of Android 16<\/a> \u2014 known as Android 16 QPR2 \u2014 is finally here, bringing plenty of new features<\/a> to Pixel owners, and eventually other brands as well. According to anecdotal reports from the usual corners of the internet, one unexpected bonus appears to be improved graphics performance for the Pixel 10.<\/p>\n Google hasn\u2019t officially mentioned a new GPU driver that Pixel 10 owners have been waiting for, but that doesn\u2019t mean that minor improvements or optimizations aren\u2019t tucked away inside. To find out, I grabbed my Pixel 10 Pro XL<\/a> running the November 2025 patch, ran our usual test suite, and then updated to the QPR2 December 2025 update and tested again.<\/p>\n Has performance has improved with Android 16 QPR2?<\/p>\n 171 votes<\/p>\n Yes<\/p>\n 40%<\/p>\n It’s about the same<\/p>\n 21%<\/p>\n No, it’s worse<\/p>\n 5%<\/p>\n I can’t tell<\/p>\n 35%<\/p>\n Pixel 10 Pro XL benchmarks on Android 16 QPR2<\/p>\n Compared to my out-of-the-box Pixel 10 Pro XL, there is a clear performance improvement by the time I reached the November update. However, the Android 16 QPR2 update is roughly in the same ballpark as before the update.<\/p>\n Since launch, CPU performance has improved slightly, with GeekBench 6\u2019s single-core performance showing a 2% increase (which is close to the margin of error), while multi-core scores have risen somewhat more by 5% when averaged across three tests. That\u2019s welcome, but hardly a game-changer for peak performance. It\u2019s also worth noting that these new results are still within the performance margin we observed while testing the entire Pixel 10 series, so they haven\u2019t significantly boosted performance to brand-new heights. Instead, the average performance is better.<\/p>\n Along those lines, PCMark\u2019s Work 3.0 test suggests that a variety of use cases may see a considerable performance leap. There\u2019s a 19.6% boost here, which seems significant. However, we clocked a similar score for the Pixel 10 Pro at launch (while the Pixel 10 and XL were slower), suggesting that some variability has always been present. I don\u2019t want to draw too many conclusions from this synthetic benchmark, but hopefully, Google has managed to iron out some of the performance kinks in Android 16, freeing the Pixel 10\u2019s Tensor G5<\/a> to hit its peak performance more consistently than before.<\/p>\n Next, let\u2019s examine some graphics workloads courtesy of 3DMark\u2019s stress tests.<\/p>\n The performance uplift we saw on the CPU side is reflected in revised GPU tests, but we can see that QPR2 is marginally faster than its predecessor. Peak performance is up nearly 5% in the Wild Life test and around 7% in Wild Life Extreme. So, let\u2019s call this a modest 6% boost on average, but the real advantage seems to be that sustained performance can be better on more recent versions. Again, this uplift won\u2019t revolutionize the phone\u2019s distinctly average gaming performance. Still, it should result in marginally higher peak frame rates and, perhaps more importantly, better stability and fewer janks in more demanding titles and emulators.<\/p>\n Incidentally, both of these graphics tests use the Vulkan API; some users are reporting significantly more substantial gains in OpenGL, but I haven\u2019t been able to verify this yet. As a bonus, this performance uplift comes with no additional cost to temperatures or stability.<\/p>\n Steady performance improvements since launch<\/p>\n Ryan Haines \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n There\u2019s an undeniable benchmarking boost for my Pixel 10 Pro XL between launch and QPR2. However, it appears that most of the performance improvements were already in place before the latest update was released. Still, the arrival of QPR2 may have caused a few more people to smash that update button and finally benefit from the gains Google introduced a little earlier (probably in the November patch).<\/p>\n That said, any CPU and system improvements appear to primarily result from ironing out previous inconsistencies, but the GPU gains seem a little more promising. In any case, this modest performance enhancement is undoubtedly the cherry on top of an already substantial Android 16 QPR2 update.<\/p>\n My Pixel 10 Pro XL is now faster than at launch, but the improvements came before QPR2.<\/p>\n One often-overlooked benefit of achieving better peak performance is that it can make a more significant difference in worst-case scenarios. So, while a 5% boost won\u2019t elevate recent Pixels to Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 levels, it could mean that apps feel a little smoother to load, and games suffer from fewer janks, which aligns with anecdotal reports of phones feeling more responsive.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll see if this holds true as more users spend time with their updated Pixels. In the meantime, my next step is to check whether Android 16 QPR2 finally addresses the Pixel 10\u2019s dire emulation performance<\/a> compared to its predecessor \u2014 or if we\u2019ll still have to wait and hope that a future driver update will make the Tensor G5 feel more like a true upgrade rather than a sidegrade.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Pixel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Pixel-10-Pro-XL-Perf-Updates-GeekBench-6-scaled.png\"\/ "\\"Pixel")
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