Of all the hills I’m willing to die on, this might be the one that gets the most pushback. It’s a controversial opinion, I know, but I’m going to say it anyway: I’m glad Google Pixel phones don’t use Snapdragon processors.
Let me start my defense with a little analogy. Imagine that you’re in the market for a new vehicle. Your goal is to take your family on long road trips, exploring national parks and camping under the stars. You need space for people, beds, and maybe even a small kitchenette. A tricked-out Sprinter camper van seems like the perfect solution, which would cost you about $150,000. Unfortunately, your friend, a die-hard car enthusiast, scoffs at your choice. “A Sprinter van? Why would you buy that slow thing?” they ask. “For the same amount of money, you could get a Porsche 911! It can go from zero to 60 in 3.2 seconds, bro!”
You’d probably look at your friend, bewildered. A Porsche is a phenomenal car, obviously, but it’s not at all the right choice for the task you have in mind. You can’t take your family camping in a two-seater sports car, no matter how fast it is.
If the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is a Porsche, then Tensor G5 is a camper van. But is one really 'better' than the other?
This is the conversation I find myself in every time a new Pixel phone is released, with the Sprinter van being Tensor and the Porsche being a top-end Snapdragon. With the launch this week of the powerhouse Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the performance gap is wider than ever. Yet, just like in our car analogy, focusing on that one metric — raw power — misses the entire point of Tensor’s existence.
Anytime I make a video or write an article about Pixel phones, the comments are inevitably flooded with people wishing Google would just give up on Tensor and go back to using Snapdragon chips. And I get it. If real-world benchmarks for this new chip are even close to what Qualcomm has shown us on demo units so far, Tensor G5 won’t stand a chance against it. Despite this, I hope that Pixels never bring back Snapdragon chips.
Before you dismiss me as a delusional fanboy, hear me out.
Why Tensor even exists
David Imel / Android Authority
To understand why Tensor is so important for the Pixel line, we need to rewind a bit. Prior to the Pixel 6 series, every single Pixel phone came with Qualcomm silicon. In fact, from the original Pixel all the way to the Pixel 4 and 4 XL, you’d find the same flagship Snapdragon chip inside that you’d find in the top-tier Samsung Galaxy S phone from that year.
At the time, this made perfect sense. Google was trying to create a flagship phone that could go toe-to-toe with the best from Apple and Samsung. To do that, it needed the best-in-class Android processor, and that was (and still is) unequivocally a Snapdragon. The problem was that this strategy just wasn’t working. Pixel sales were never strong enough to make a real dent in Samsung’s market share, and the Pixel 4 series ended up being the worst-selling Pixel family ever.
Google always struggled to compete when it used Qualcomm silicon. It knew if it wanted to carve out a niche, it needed to be different.
Google saw the writing on the wall. It knew that if it wanted to truly compete against the giants of the industry, it couldn’t just be another face in the crowd. It needed to carve out a unique identity for itself. But how could it do that if one of the most critical components of the phone — its brain — was controlled by a different company and used by all its main competitors?
Behind the scenes, Google had already been working on its own custom silicon. After the commercial failure of the Pixel 4, it ramped up its efforts to get Tensor ready for primetime. In the interim, it released the Pixel 5 and Pixel 5a, two excellent phones that pivoted away from the flagship space by using mid-range, inexpensive Snapdragon processors. Then, in 2021, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro launched, marking the debut of the very first Tensor chip. Now, in 2025, we’re five generations in with Tensor G5.
Google never wanted Tensor to compete with Snapdragon. It wanted Tensor to do what Snapdragon couldn't.
Basically, the whole point of Tensor, from its inception, was to make Pixel phones unique. It’s a huge part of their appeal. People who love Pixels don’t love them because they beat a Galaxy S25 in a benchmark test; they love them because they offer a different experience that enhances their life in ways other phones can’t. Tensor might not have the raw horsepower of the latest from Qualcomm or Apple, but it’s a chip that was specifically designed to work in that specific phone. And that brings a distinct set of advantages that an off-the-shelf chip just can’t match.
The real-world advantages of custom silicon
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
The arguments against Tensor almost always boil down to performance numbers, but the benefits of Google’s approach are less about benchmarks and more about the holistic user experience. These advantages manifest in a few key ways.
The most significant benefit of an in-house chip is the potential for deep integration between hardware and software. Think about Apple. A huge reason the iPhone performs as well as it does is that Apple designs A-series chips specifically for the hardware and software they will run. Google is aiming for the same symbiotic relationship with Tensor and the Pixel.
Google wants more control over how Pixels work. This control makes Pixels better at certain things when compared to other Android phones.
Here’s a practical example: taking photos and videos. Every time you capture media with your phone, it uses a little battery. Because Google controls the pipeline from the camera to Tensor’s image signal processor (ISP), Pixel phones are very efficient in this area. If you were to set up a Pixel and a comparable Galaxy to record a non-stop 4K video until the batteries died, the Pixel would almost certainly last longer. If you don’t believe me, check out our data on this.
Another crucial factor is cost and control. Qualcomm never discloses how much it charges partners for its flagship chips, but we know the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will be the single most expensive mobile processor the company sells. Every manufacturer that wants to use it, including Samsung, must pay whatever price Qualcomm sets. That payment takes a significant chunk out of the phone’s bill of materials, which means less money is available to invest in other parts, such as the design, cameras, or new features.
Google saves money by making its own chips, allowing it to invest those savings into other aspects of Pixel phones. Pixelsnap is a great example of this.
Let’s go back to our Sprinter van analogy. If you bought a fully tricked-out camper van from a custom outfitter, you might pay $150,000. However, you could also buy a base model van for $50,000 and use the remaining $100,000 to trick it out yourself. This gives you total control. You can decide exactly what features you want and how much you want to spend. Maybe you only spend $50,000 on the retrofit and use the other $50,000 to buy e-bikes, kayaks, or any number of other things.
By making its own “engine” with Tensor, Google has this same kind of control over its budget. We don’t need to look far to see how this benefits the Pixel line. The Pixel 10 series, for example, comes with Pixelsnap, Google’s take on Apple’s MagSafe. Obviously, Google looked to Apple to figure out what to do with Pixelsnap, but it still required engineering magnets into the phone’s chassis and developing an ecosystem of accessories — both of which cost money. Likewise, Pixel designs have evolved significantly year-over-year, becoming tougher and more premium. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is even the first foldable with an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance. This also required heavy investment from Google.
Essentially, Tensor gives Google a certain freedom that other companies just don't have.
Meanwhile, many of Samsung’s designs have remained relatively stagnant over the past few years, and Samsung’s take on MagSafe is nowhere to be seen (at least, not yet). I’m not saying the cost of Snapdragon chips is the only reason for this, but it certainly doesn’t help when a huge portion of Sammy’s budget is pre-allocated to a third-party supplier.
In other words, Tensor gives Google the freedom to innovate in areas beyond raw processing power because it isn’t beholden to anyone but itself.
Competition makes everything better
Joe Maring / Android Authority
Let’s entertain a hypothetical for a moment. What if every single flagship Android phone ran on a Snapdragon processor? This would certainly appease the people who want a Pixel 10 with a Snapdragon inside, but then what would be Qualcomm’s incentive to push the envelope? Sure, it would still need to compete with Apple, but on the Android side of the fence, its dominance would be nearly absolute (with MediaTek chomping at its heels, of course).
Tensor’s very existence pushes Qualcomm (and the entire industry) to be better. If you don’t believe me, just look at the explosion of on-device AI. When the first Tensor chip launched, it offered a suite of AI and machine learning features that Snapdragon chips, at the time, simply couldn’t support. Examples include Face Unblur and Live Translate, and all Google’s done since then is add more features to the pile. Suddenly, there was a new battleground that wasn’t just about clock speeds and core counts.
One could make an argument that Qualcomm's focus on on-device AI is a direct response to Tensor dominating in this area.
Today, Qualcomm rightly boasts about the powerful on-device AI capabilities of its chips. Would the company have invested so heavily and so quickly in its neural processing units (NPUs) if Tensor hadn’t existed? Maybe eventually, but hearing Pixel fans talk incessantly about how cool Pixel features are probably helped light a fire under its feet. That competition is a good thing for everyone, whether you buy a Pixel or not.
Even if you ignore that aspect, the last thing anyone wants is for one company to control smartphone pricing. The processor is easily one of the most expensive aspects of any smartphone, and Qualcomm already holds so much power over the mobile industry, allowing it to set Snapdragon pricing as it deems fit. Tensor dropping out of the fold would only bolster Qualcomm more, and you know exactly what would happen then: the costs of chips would go up and the cost of smartphones would go up in turn. I, for one, would hate to see that.
Not everyone needs (or wants) a Porsche
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
Ultimately, the number one reason I’m glad my Pixel isn’t chasing after the most powerful, crazy-fast Snapdragon processor is this: I don’t need it. Just like the guy thinking about buying a Sprinter van, I don’t need a phone that can go from 0 to 60 in 3.2 seconds. I need a phone with features I care about that make my life better and easier, and for me, that’s what a Pixel does best.
The fact that my phone might not render a video quite as quickly as a Snapdragon-powered one, or that Genshin Impact might run at a slightly higher frame rate on the 8 Elite Gen 5, simply doesn’t matter to me in my daily use. Would it be nice if Tensor G5 was just as powerful as the best Snapdragon chip? Hell yeah, it would be. But that’s not the primary reason I’m buying a Pixel. I’m buying it for the brilliant camera, the clean software, and the unique features that I can’t get anywhere else.
Numbers being high in a benchmark score doesn't make my phone experience better. That's just not something I care about.
So yeah, I’m glad Pixels are different. I’m glad that not every smartphone out there runs on the same processor. I’m glad that Google provides Qualcomm with competition and that both companies push the other to improve. But most of all, I’m happy that we, as consumers, have a choice.
Anyone reading this can decide that ultra-fast processing and sky-high benchmark scores are what are most important to them and buy a phenomenal phone with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 inside. I am genuinely happy for everyone who does that. But I wish those same people would also understand that not everyone thinks the same way. Many of us put more value into other things.
In other words, don’t put down the person who wants the Sprinter van instead of the Porsche. Their choice is just as valid as yours.
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