Google Pixel 8 Pro and other Tensor Pixels receive gaming performance improvements with new GPU kernel driver

Earlier this week, Google released the first major update to the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro following their October launches. In summary, the company bundled various new features for both devices as part of its December 2023 Pixel Feature Drop. With a few Pixel 8 Pro exclusives like Gemini AI integrations, the new Pixel Feature Drop was joined by various bug fixes and minor improvements through Google's monthly software update.

It also turns out that Google has included a new GPU kernel driver for Tensor devices. Although not reported in any changelogs, the new kernel driver has been shown to significantly improve in-game frame rates. As @MishaalRahman has demonstrated, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro have been running GPU kernel driver r38p1 since release, which arrived in mid-August. Now, the December 2023 update replaces r38p1 with r44p1, Google's latest public GPU kernel driver it published on October 11.

Rahman adds that GPU kernel driver r44p1 is present in Android 14 QPR2 beta builds, too. Thus, those who continue to use the Android 14 Beta program will benefit from GPU performance gains as well. According to Rahman, GPU kernel driver r44p1 is available to all Pixel devices with Tensor SoCs that have ARM Mali GPUs. In other words, GPU optimisations should be noticeable across the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 series and not just the Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro (curr. $799 on Amazon).