The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL’s chipset seemingly can’t hold up under pressure

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Putting Tensor to the test

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Google's best Pixel phones have often struggled to match the top rival handsets in terms of raw power, and it’s looking like the Pixel 9 line will be no exception. Worryingly, though, what performance these new phones do offer might also collapse under pressure.

At least, that's the opinion of X user @callmeshazzam (via NotebookCheck), who put the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL through a CPU throttling test, and found that after around four minutes, the phone’s performance had dropped by almost 60%.

After that, its performance did creep back up again, but only to around 65% of its maximum for the remaining duration of the test.

And while this is just a test of the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, the rest of the line – including the Pixel 9, the Pixel 9 Pro, and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold – use the same chipset, so it's likely that these devices will struggle under pressure, too.

Different use cases and a different focus

Of course, in day-to-day use, you’re very unlikely to push the Pixel 9 Pro XL et al. as hard as this test does, so the actual performance you get from Google's phones will probably be better. Still, it’s not ideal that a chipset that doesn’t match the best for power even at maximum performance can exhibit such major dips.

But these phones are largely designed with AI in mind, and rather than a top-tier chipset, they have hefty amounts of RAM to help with that, with 16GB in the top models. So, as AI phones they might still get the job done, but if you want to play high-end games, you might want to consider a more powerful Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or an iPhone 15 Pro instead.

Still, before making any decision, we’d suggest waiting for our full reviews of the Google Pixel 9 line, because benchmarks never tell the whole story.

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James Rogerson
James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.