Google Pixel Codenamed Coral Alleged Benchmarks Surface With Snapdragon 855, Android Q

Is it too early to start looking ahead to the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL? Considering that Google only launched its Pixel 3 series a few months ago, it does seem a bit premature to look ahead to the next generation already, but so it goes in the smartphone world. As such, a new benchmark entry at Geekbench is raising some eyebrows, and could potentially be an early look at Google's next-gen Pixel phone.

Geekbench lists the phone as "Google Coral," which is obviously a codename (or a spoof—it's not that difficult to fake a listing on Geekbench). Assuming the specs are accurate, the mystery device wields a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor clocked at 1.78GHz and 6GB of RAM. On the software side, it is shown running Android Q.

The listing also labels the motherboard as "Coral," which further adds to the intrigue. While a Pixel 4 is certainly a possibility, we can't rule out this being an unreleased Chromebook or Pixelbook. It's all fair game (as is the possibility of this being a fake listing).

Let's assume the listing is real, and that it points to a pre-production model Pixel 4. Here's how the benchmark results stack up against our collection of Geekbench scores from other handsets...

Those are strong scores for the Coral device, which shoots up to the top section of our graph. It manages to wedge itself between the ASUS's ROG Phone in X Mode and normal mode in the multi-core test, and tops both in the single-core test.

The Coral device also put some healthy separation between it and Google's Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL handsets, the latter of which are both powered by Qualcomm's previous generation Snapdragon 845 processor.

That said, we would actually expect the multi-core score to be higher on the Coral device. What gives? Again, if we are assuming the listing is accurate, then one possible explanation is the pre-production status. It might not be firing on all cylinders, and certainly we would anticipate further optimizations to Android Q between now and when it actually comes out.

In any event, it appears Google is working on something, we just don't know what it is yet.