[Google Pixel 7 Pro] robbbzilla:
Well no sh!t Sherlock the Tensor G2 is not the king of gaming or Benchmarks. It doesn't use X2, it doesn't use latest arm 9, it doesn't have the highest frequency, it uses it's own core count configuration and doesn't use the largest core count mali GPU. It doesn't even perform that well in metal.

Which all completely miss the point. If you want the fastest cpu and GPU then you need an iPhone. a16 is so far ahead of everything in cpu and GPU but how is the speech to text? How are the calling features?

Just get an Asus ROG phone if all you care about is gaming and cpu and enjoy the crap cameras and poor updates.

Samsung fabs are fine. No they are not the best but Google has to start somewhere and cost is certainly an issue.

Have you actually used a Pixel 7 Pro? It is a fantastic device. Google can get away with a decent performing chip and make it run perfectly smooth.

Also as others have said the reason Google is not pushing the fastest specs is sustainable performance. Anyone with experience with cpu/GPU knows the burst frequency is not everything. What good is 3.5ghz if it throttles in a minute under load. The dual x1 architecture with lower frequency is used for multi threaded sustainable performance not peak Geekbench scores.

Also the 8 gen 1 isn't crap. It is a decent chip. Also Samsung and Qualcomm are teaming up again for the 8 gen 2 on Samsung phones. The new s23 series will be using Samsung fabs. And I bet it will still be a great chip. TSMC is the best right now but it is good to have competition.

Lastly we have software optimization. Android is a lot like Windows. A lot of different devices with a lot of different hardware need to work on it. Then add customization layers OEM's add on top of that. Think about this, Google makes money the longer you use a Pixel. They make money on advertising services. All other OEM'S mostly make their money selling you hardware. So there is a vested interest in Google keeping you using their device loaded with all their services for as long as possible while OEMs have no such motivation. They want you to buy another device as soon as possible.

My point is that Google will support your device longer and optimize it better than anyone else and now that they are producing their own chips they can technically support their phone longer. Right now they say 5 years of updates but they don't really distinguish between major OS and security updates. It is possible that they will only give OS upgrades for 3 years and 5 of security updates but they could also give 5 years of both. And as Tensor chips improve I bet you will see a longer support window to compete with Apple. Remember that major Android updates were locked in by Qualcomm support. Traditionally Qualcomm gave 3 years of Android os upgrade support but now that Google is using their own chips they are no longer bound by this restriction.

Also there is no mention of AI computation. Geekbench doesn't really test AI and metal doesn't but for one aspect. The entire point of Tensor is AI computation and using all of the parts of the chip together.

If your only metric on measuring the value of a phone is gaming then Tensor is not the best choice but if you actually use your phone to make calls, get great pictures, and use advanced features like text to speech then there is nothing else like Tensor G2 and a Pixel phone.