Pixel 10 Pro XL faces Genshin Impact glitches tied to PowerVR driver

Videos circulating online this weekend show Google Pixel 10 Pro XL phones exhibiting severe graphical glitches while running the mobile game Genshin Impact, raising questions about compatibility after the game's August update and prompting scrutiny of the Pixel 10 series' graphics drivers. Clips shared by players show flickering textures, control problems and screen tearing that in some cases appear to render the game difficult to play.

The problems appear to coincide with Genshin Impact's v5.0 update, released in August, which revised the game's minimum device requirements and removed official support for PowerVR graphics processors. Google moved the Pixel 10 series to an Imagination Technologies PowerVR DXT481536 GPU this year, replacing the ARM Mali GPUs used in prior Pixel chips. That change, combined with the game's updated requirements, is the likely source of the incompatibility reported by some users.

Not all devices behave the same. Independent reviewer testing of the Pixel 10 Pro XL running Genshin Impact and other demanding titles such as PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile found no widespread, reproducible failures, suggesting the failures shown in the viral clips...