Since its launch, Pixel 10 owners have criticized the Tensor G5’s poor GPU performance. It’s not about raw power, but more about the GPU failing to live up to its potential due to an outdated GPU driver. Google addressed the performance woes to a certain extent with Android 16 QPR2, but it didn’t address the root cause. That finally changes with Android 16 QPR3 Beta 1, which ships with a new driver for the Tensor G5’s PowerVR GPU.

Google did not officially mention the newer GPU driver in its Android 16 QPR3 Beta 1 announcement. But one Redditor spotted that the Pixel 10 series now uses a newer driver for the PowerVR GPU.

It is the same driver (v25.1) that Imagination Technologies released in August 2025. It packs a host of improvements, including support for Android 16, Vulkan 1.4, and expanded OpenCL extensions. The company itself mentions noticeable performance and efficiency improvements with the new driver in its announcement.

The Tensor G5’s older GPU driver caused many popular, graphics-heavy games to run poorly. The newer driver should hopefully fix this problem while also delivering a noticeable performance and efficiency boost. Do not expect anything radical, but past GPU driver updates for Tensor chips have consistently brought meaningful gains.

We will have to wait for more user reports and benchmarks to quantify the performance improvement the updated GPU driver brings.

Wait for Android 16 QPR3 to try the Pixel 10’s new GPU driver

Google confirmed back in October that it would update the Pixel 10’s GPU driver. That led many to believe it would arrive with the stable Android 16 QPR2 build, but that never happened. Instead, the company shipped a more efficient garbage collector that reduced CPU usage and improved system responsiveness.

The first QPR3 beta build finally seems to address the GPU performance bottleneck as well. The only gripe is that most Pixel 10 owners will have to wait until March 2026, when the update is scheduled to go stable, to benefit from the improvements.

If you don’t want to wait until then, you can join the Android beta program and install the QPR3 beta today to try the new GPU driver on your Pixel 10.