Chips: Snapdragon with Samsung flair vs. Google’s Tensor
This year’s Z Fold 5 has Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip, which means Qualcomm’s chip prowess with Samsung’s tweaks for things like machine learning smarts. I’ll have a full assessment of the Z Fold 5’s capabilities in the review, but for now, the Geekbench 6 scores are much higher than Google’s Pixel Fold—about 600 points higher on the single-core score and nearly 2000 points on the multi-core score.
That doesn’t mean that Google’s Tensor G2 chip is anything to balk at. It can do all the same photo editing, video splicing, and audio-blaring work that the Qualcomm chip can do. I have been using the Tensor G2 all this time with the Pixel 7—it’s in all of Google’s devices, including the Pixel 7 Pro, budget-line Pixel 7a, and the Pixel Tablet. The chip is tuned to the features Google wants you to use, like ML-enhanced photo editing in Google Photos and real-time language translation. Conversely, those particular experiences feel less native on the Z Fold 5, which prioritizes performance for what Samsung wants you to use—like Bixby, its digital assistant, and the various AI-enhanced camera features.
