Users trying to install the popular performance benchmarking app on Google’s new Pixel 8 smartphones are reporting that they are unable to install it. Mr. Sanjiv Satya, Note check:
In a highly unusual move, it has been revealed that Google has blocked Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro reviewers from installing popular benchmarks such as Geekbench and 3D Mark. Geekbench is a popular benchmark that evaluates the CPU performance of smartphone silicon, while 3DMark is a benchmark that evaluates the GPU performance of chips. Running such benchmarks is a common part of the review process, a review that helps develop an overall rating for a device based on both objective data and qualitative analysis based on real-world usage. …but blocking reviewers and general users from downloading and installing popular benchmarking apps means the company is not prepared to back up the marketing claims he made about his Tensor G3. suggests. Otherwise, we are not trying to prevent reviewers or users from being able to test those claims for themselves.
This is a great example of the Streisand effect. I don’t bother posting about boring things like mobile phone benchmarks unless I’m posting it as part of an article reporting the terrible performance a user has experienced. But are there any reports of Google preventing reviewers or users from running benchmarks at all? That goes. If your benchmarks aren’t legitimate, you’ll have PR problems. If the benchmarks are legitimate, there is a problem with the product.