Is it possible to significantly speed up a rather old smartphone afterward? Allegedly possible, for example with the Google Pixel 3 (XL) from 2018. In any case, the esteemed Mishaal Rahman shared recent experiences with us via Twitter. The trick should be to use other or newer GPU drivers that the manufacturer may not even provide you directly via system update.
But there is criticism of his report. He says the differences are huge. But that ultimately depends on how you interpret the numbers. In percentage terms, his device can perform much better with more recent drivers – more than 12 percent. But not if you take a look at other numbers from 3DMark, for example.
In the corresponding test, the Pixel 3 could only increase the average frame rate by 1 FPS with more recent drivers. This is not a difference that the user would notice. Just one more frame per second is not enough to speak of significant differences here. So newer GPU drivers from Google or Qualcomm via system update would be nice, but not a big deal.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could update your Android phone’s GPU drivers like you can on your PC?
Here’s a comparison of the GPU performance in 3DMark from a Pixel 3 XL running Android 12 with the stock driver versus an updated driver I installed. Very pronounced difference! pic.twitter.com/EZZCRm7PWn
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) February 18, 2022