Google marked the tenth era of Pixels with four new smartphones. Whereas the ‘professional’ and foldable Pixel 10 fashions might need no-compromise specs (and costs to match), Google has blurred the traces between its entry-level Pixel 10 and people premium gadgets. This 12 months, the bottom Pixel 10 has a much bigger battery, a brand new 5x zoom telephoto digital camera and nearly as many AI options because the flagship Pixel 10 Professional and Pixel 10 Professional Fold.

If the celebrity-loaded Made By Google occasion was something to go by, the corporate is placing much more effort (and cash) into making the Pixel a real risk to the Galaxy S collection and iPhones, and conveying that message to everybody. The Pixel 10 deserves these comparisons, and in a variety of methods, it’s the higher smartphone.

{Hardware} and show

Google’s 10th-generation of Pixels look lots like their predecessors. There’s a protruding pill-shaped digital camera unit, which is the central design flourish. It’s substantial, which nonetheless appears to be like slightly jarring, but it surely additionally doubles as a kind of grip for my index finger whereas holding the cellphone, one thing I seen after a 12 months of utilizing the Pixel 9 Professional. Google has additionally refreshed the colour vary of its Pixel household. Each a vivid blue (Indigo) and gentle yellow (Lemongrass) shades are welcome additions to the everyday black and white hues.

The 6.3-inch display’s refresh fee nonetheless tops out at 120Hz, however that’s now just about customary throughout midrange gadgets and up. Even the entry-level Pixel 9a has the identical clean scrolling expertise. Nevertheless, Google has boosted the Pixel 10’s brightness, now peaking at 3,000 nits, which is a slight enhance from 2,700 nits on the Pixel 9. The display maxes out at 2,000 nits at its brightest setting for HDR, which can also be a bump up from the Pixel 9. Google has additionally boosted the sound high quality on the Pixel 10 to be noticeably much less tinny and slightly bassier than earlier Pixels.

One other addition is Pixelsnap, which is actually MagSafe for Pixels. The wi-fi charging integration is essentially the identical, with magnets that firmly connect the system to charging pucks, equipment and docks. It simply labored with a variety of wi-fi chargers, though Qi2-supported choices are nonetheless rarer than they need to be. You’re extra more likely to discover a MagSafe-branded wi-fi charger from third-party corporations like Belkin, however these don’t obtain the quicker cost speeds of Qi2.

In the event you’re feeling spendy, Google’s official Pixelsnap charger is $70 and reaches speeds as much as 25W, whereas there’s a PopSocket-like Pixel ring stand that may snap to the again of the cellphone. Moreover, the Pixel 10 collection helps a lot of the MagSafe peripherals that iPhone customers have been having fun with since 2020.

Digital camera

The massive {hardware} improve this 12 months is the cameras. The picture unit features a 48-megapixel wide-angle setup, a 13MP sensor with an ultra-wide lens and a ten.8MP 5x telephoto digital camera. For a base cellphone, it’s a formidable combo, although it doesn’t fairly match the higher-res sensors discovered within the Pixel 10 Professional — or final 12 months’s Pixel 9 Professional.

That new telephoto lens isn’t some middling 2x or 3x zoom, however a 5x zoom which places it past rivals at an analogous value level, just like the Galaxy S25 (3x zoom) and the iPhone 16’s meager 2x optical zoom. It’s like utilizing a Pixel Professional, with a further cropped zoom as much as 10x and a (much less constant) Tremendous Res Zoom as much as 20x. It is a important step up for the bottom mannequin and one thing I’m certain we’ll see the aforementioned rivals seemingly attempt to match. Merely put, the Pixel 10 is only a higher, extra versatile digital camera cellphone than, say, the Galaxy S25.

I examined the Pixel 10’s telephoto in opposition to the 9 Professional’s, and there have been noticeable variations intimately and crispness, which is comprehensible because the latter has a a lot higher-res 48MP sensor. Nevertheless, that doesn’t detract from the leap in each element and taking pictures vary in comparison with the bottom Pixel 9 from final 12 months.

The Pixel 10 may also seize 10-bit HDR video now, though it doesn’t provide the Pixel 10 Professional’s 8K video, Night time Sight Video and Tremendous Res Zoom Video choices. There’s no Video Enhance, both, which uploads footage to Google’s cloud to boost on-line.

There are many different notable digital camera options onboard, together with Night time Sight low-light taking pictures, or Add Me, which remains to be the standout Pixel digital camera function from final 12 months and hasn’t been replicated by rivals but. For many who missed my praise last year, Add Me stitches collectively two group pictures, taken by two completely different individuals. The mode guides customers to line up the photographs, which means your group pictures can lastly embody the one that takes all of them (me).

Digital camera Coach is an intriguing addition to the Pixel digital camera expertise. Above the viewfinder, there’s a brand new digital camera icon with a plus signal within the high proper nook. Tapping it makes the display flash, and the coach will provide a number of framing and photo-taking solutions. It’ll additionally add a Get Impressed choice that goes a bit extra avant-garde, producing thumbnails of potential outcomes primarily based off of the pattern it took, filling the gaps with generative AI.

I witheringly launched the Coach, able to criticize its fundamental solutions or common sense concepts. However, you recognize what, it’s not dangerous. With hooks in Gemini AI, the mode will provide angle, lighting and composition solutions. You may as well select whether or not to emphasise, say, the sample of some leaves, or the background behind it or the group of individuals to the aspect. Whereas the function makes use of Google’s Tensor G5 chip to investigate photographs, it does require an web connection.

Software program

Due to the Tensor G5 chip, the Pixel 10 can run Google’s latest Gemini Nano mannequin on-device. This implies generative AI experiences can now be used with out the necessity for connectivity. Nevertheless, as I discussed with Digital camera Coach, that isn’t all the time the case.

Nevertheless, Magic Cue does work with out having to summon its solutions from the cloud. And when it really works, it’s what I’ve wished from AI assistants for years. After gaining your permission, Gemini will get into your screenshots, calendar, Gmail accounts and extra. Magic Cue will pull within the info you want, hopefully, the place you want it. For instance, it shows the e-mail handle for that comedy present venue your buddy desires tickets for, or nudges your calendar to indicate availability when a buddy asks what your weekend plans are. These cues are highlighted with a rainbow “aura” that has change into the de facto visible shorthand for synthetic intelligence. That is simply the beginning: Google will ultimately add the power for Magic Cue to faucet into your pictures, suggesting photographs when somebody’s talked about in textual content messages, emails and extra.

Magic Cue has some blind spots, although. As my colleague Sam Rutherford famous in his Pixel 10 Professional overview, I discovered it significantly fussy with calendar cues, typically failing to establish dates or occasions in screenshots or emails. It’s additionally lacking a serious space of the place I need all of this data: third-party messaging apps. However hey, if you happen to’re utilizing Google Messages, you’re good to go.

Google’s almost-instantaneous voice translation throughout calls is spectacular too. Managing Editor Cherlynn Low laid out how that works, and whereas it’s a technical marvel, I’m unsure how a lot I’d use the function for high-stakes conversations like reserving lodging or finding out journey points.

I additionally preferred Take a Message, which transcribes calls whenever you’re unable to reply. Nevertheless, similar to I did whereas I used to be testing Apple’s related function throughout my iOS 26 preview, I both answered calls instinctively [Ed. note: Mat is clearly a different specimen from the rest of us humans] or individuals didn’t go away voicemails.

There are many minor upgrades to current instruments and options on the Pixel 10. Gemini Stay, which might “see” by means of your digital camera or learn what’s on display, may also now provide visible steering, highlighting objects onscreen after listening to your request or query. NotebookLM now integrates with Pixel Screenshots and Recorder. If the previous detects one thing that might be helpful to an current NotebookLM challenge, it’ll counsel including it for simpler entry.

There are additionally Writing Instruments (sound familiar?) inside Gboard, which might retool your current prose into specified writing types. It’ll even counsel which emojis so as to add into the combo. For now, that is solely appropriate with US English, so it’s not my favorite favourite. There’s additionally a brand new Pixel Journal app, which sounds pretty familiar too. I briefly examined it out throughout the days I’ve had the cellphone, however if you happen to haven’t discovered the app/pocket book/diary to journal in but, it’s a wonderfully high-quality choice, with AI-powered solutions on what to put in writing about and the power to connect pictures and different particulars that your smartphone can log. One thing that wasn’t obvious throughout my overview was that the Journal app will find out about your writing patterns and provide up insights on how typically you write, whenever you usually write and extra.

Efficiency and battery life

Google says its new Tensor G5 chip is 34 p.c quicker than final 12 months’s G4, whereas the TPU (Tensor Processing Unit, ugh) is 60 p.c quicker at AI duties. Efficiency testing apps like Geekbench 6 can’t be put in on Pixel gadgets earlier than the telephones go on sale, so I wasn’t in a position to quantify the improve. I can really feel these enhancements with heavier processing duties although, like transcription, translation and picture era, in apps like Pixel Studio. The Pixel 10 additionally had no points working graphically intensive video games like Infinity Nikki and Zenless Zone Zero, and appeared faster to load most apps in comparison with Pixel telephones of the previous. Google’s Tensor chips are undoubtedly catching up.

Anecdotally, I discover myself utilizing Google’s Pixel AI options (and Gemini) considerably extra typically than on different Android gadgets I’ve used and examined. With comparable AI duties, akin to transcribing an interview, the Tensor G5 seems to deal with them extra effectively, delivering ends in much less time.

The Pixel 10 has a 4,970mAh battery, which isn’t solely greater than the Pixel 9 (4,700mAh) but additionally the Pixel 10 Professional (4,870mAh). Nevertheless, the Pixel 10 doesn’t fairly match the 27 hours-plus rundown time of the Pixel 9. Working a looping video, this 12 months’s cellphone lasted round 22 hours, which is a bit disappointing given the specs. I’ll retest and replace this overview if the outcomes differ.

The Pixel 10 helps wired charging as much as 30W, returning to over 50 p.c in underneath half-hour. It may also be wirelessly charged at as much as 15W, due to Qi2 assist. That’s an enchancment, but it surely’s not Qi2.2 just like the Pixel 10 Professional XL, which might attain 25W charging wirelessly.

Wrap-up

The Pixel 10 redefines what we should always anticipate from base flagship smartphones. With Apple’s next iPhone just around the corner, Google has added a 5x telephoto digital camera, rounding out the Pixel’s pictures chops providing whereas augmenting it with extra options powered by Gemini. Digital camera Coach won’t be for everybody, however Magic Cue — like Pixel Screenshots final 12 months — is a glimpse into the way forward for how we’ll use AI on smartphones.

The Pixel 10 is a considerable improve from the Pixel 9, though given it has the Tensor G5 chip, it’s a disgrace that software program options like Zoom Improve from final 12 months’s Pixels didn’t make the lower. Except you’re a die-hard smartphone gamer, there isn’t a extra succesful smartphone at this value.