Google Pixel 10/10 Pro/Pro XL: An Almost Perfect Union of AI and Power

The Google Pixel 10/10 Pro/10 Pro XL: An Almost Perfect Union of AI and Power

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The Pixel 10 is a solid entry-level flagship, the 10 Pro is the sweet spot, and the XL is the best for a premium.

For the 10th anniversary of its flagship smartphone, Google didn’t follow the Apple or Samsung approach of a complete hardware and software overhaul. But instead, continued to build on what was already working and treated it like a phone upgrade. With the Pixel 9 lineup being one of my favorite phones from Google, I was pondering how the company could improve on it for the Pixel 10.

Like any other phone, the hardware and feature set only tell a part of the story—but for Pixel phones as of late, that is not the case. Google’s approach is to continue providing well-built hardware with bright screens, amazing cameras, and a longer list of useful software features. They’ve succeeded in previous years with the Pixel 8 and 9 series, so there’s no reason why the Pixel 10 won’t follow suit, and I’m obliged to think they did. Let’s dive into why.

Hardware

The Pixel 10 lineup has familiar hardware from its predecessor, with thin bezels, a satin-finish metal frame, a polished glass back, and a matte-finish camera bar design. The new Pixels also add a larger G logo on their rear and remove the physical SIM tray. The new Pro models carry over everything from last year’s Pixel Pro phones, including the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner and a temperature sensor built into the rear camera visor. However, Pixel 9 cases won’t ideally fit on Pixel 10 models due to the slightly larger camera bar, marginally thicker depth, and incrementally heavier weight.

The Pixel 10 and the Pixel 10 Pro retain their 6.3-inch size with an OLED panel, with the 10 touting a 2424 x 1080 resolution screen with a 60-120 Hz refresh rate and capable of going up to 3,000 nits of brightness, and the 10 Pro having a 2856 x 1280 resolution screen with a variable 1-120 Hz refresh rate and capable of going up to 3,300 nits of brightness. The Pixel 10 Pro XL keeps a 6.8-inch OLED screen with 2992 x 1344 resolution, a variable 1-120 Hz refresh rate, and can also get up to 3,300 nits of peak brightness. Both Pixel 10 Pro models get a 300-nit increase from their predecessors. Like last year’s model, the base model Pixel has slightly thicker bezels than the smaller Pro phone, but both offer a bright panel with deep blacks and punchy, vivid colors. The Pro XL mirrors the other models, but with more pixel density and larger screen real estate.

During my pre-briefing, Google PR reps discussed the improved speakers on the Pixel 10 phones. I was pleasantly surprised to hear (pun intended) that they sounded excellent. The Pro models have both new top and bottom speakers, while the 10 only has a new top speaker. I streamed a few dozen songs from my music playlist at full volume and was pleasantly surprised at how well the audio output was at its maximum volume. The bass had some punch to it, and the mids were noticeable, while the overall music had a rich and fuller soundscape. The audio output from the Pixel 10 Pro models sounded fuller than the 10, but don’t expect portable Bluetooth levels; it is a welcome improvement I didn’t know I needed.

Performance & Battery

The Pixel 10 phones are powered by a new Tensor G5 chip, which is a completely redesigned processor, and Google claims it’s 34% faster than previous Pixel phones. The new chip is also paired with 12GB of RAM for the Pixel 10 and 16GB of RAM for the 10 Pro models to provide rapid processing for the Pixel’s many AI-powered features. So things like multitasking, image editing, Gemini Live, speech recognition, and transcribing feel marginally faster than on the Pixel 9—while handling graphic-heavy gaming and on-device AI tasks without breaking a sweat. So it’s still not at the level of Snapdragon’s top-tier processor, but it’s faster than previous versions while handling more tasks.

FYI: I tested each phone 10 hours per day (from 10 AM to 10 PM) for two days, and all three phones lasted throughout my testing window. I used the Always-On and 120Hz Smooth Display features, set a 5-minute screen timeout, navigated with Google Maps for 20 to 40 minutes, played Team Deathmatch and Battle Royale on Call of Duty: Mobile for 30 minutes to 1 hour, streamed music on YouTube Music, made a few phone calls, and sent messages via Google Messages, Telegram, and WhatsApp.

The Tensor G5 feels marginally faster than last year's processor, but keeps does a decent job in battery life.

The Pixel 10’s 4,970 mAh battery had around 16% of juice left after nearly 6 hours of on-screen time. The Pixel 10 Pro’s 4,870 mAh cell lasted a little longer and had around 21% of juice left after six and a half hours of on-screen time. The Pixel 10 Pro XL’s 5,200 mAh battery was the battery champion of the three, with around 35% of juice remaining after six hours of on-screen time. All three models charged rather quickly, with the Pixel 10 and 10 Pro to a full charge to 100% in an hour and a half, while the 10 Pro XL went from 0% to 100% in just over an hour.

Bad news for anyone who used reverse wireless charging, as it got swapped out for magnetic wireless charging, which Google calls Pixelsnap. It lives up to its name, easily snapping onto Pixelsnap and MagSafe accessories without a case, and with ease. While testing several Pixel 10 cases, all Pixelsnap cases are not made equal. A few manufacturers’ cases are made too thick, which disrupts the magnetic connection, and they won’t stick if they don’t have magnets built into the case.

Cameras

Google Pixel continues to be the best smartphone camera, year after year, and maintains its title with the Pixel 10 lineup. This year, the new Pixel phones are equipped with a new Image Signal Processor (ISP) within the Tensor G5 chip for faster image processing, rendering, and high-quality video. The new chip helps tackle new camera, editing, and AI-based features while still offering the stellar image quality Pixel phones are known for.

The Pixel 10 cameras consist of a 48MP main wide sensor, a 13MP ultrawide lens, and a 10.8MP 5x telephoto lens capable of up to 10x optical and up to 20x Super Res Zoom. The main camera continues to uphold the Pixel legacy of sharpness, detail, color, and low-light images, while images captured on the ultrawide and telephoto sensors with lower megapixels suffer unless there’s a lot of light. The new telephoto sensor does a decent job of capturing faraway subjects, but AI can only help the 10.8MP sensor so much. It does add versatility to the Pixel 10, but not the same quality as on the Pro models. But for a quick pic to send via messaging app, it should be fine—just as long as you don’t pinch to zoom.

The Pixel 10 Pro phones have the same shooters as last year’s Pixels, with a 50MP main wide, a 48MP ultrawide, a 48MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom, and a 42MP selfie camera with autofocus—down to the aperture. All sensors are fast, reliable, and versatile for capturing people (especially people of color), macro shots, food, portraits, low-light, and faraway subjects, packed with excellent details and color saturation. The 10 Pro series also brings manual controls, Night Sight Video, and 8K video via Video Boost over from the Pixel 9 Pro—and yes, it still requires uploading your 8K footage to the cloud via Photos for rendering.

Google Pixel continues to be the best smartphone camera, year after year, and keeps its title with the Pixel 10 lineup.

The 10 Pro models can take advantage of new features, such as High-Res Portrait mode and Pro Res Zoom. The High-Res Portrait mode takes 50MP Portrait shots, which offer detailed images full of detail and improved separation around the edges of the focal subject. The Pro Res Zoom feature lets you zoom in up to 100x and utilizes generative AI combined with the Pixel 10 Pro’s telephoto with 5x optical zoom to polish the digital zoom results of the final product. It won’t work on people, for obvious reasons, but it demands a lot of light for a clearer finished image after it renders. However, the feature requires a steady hand to pull off photos with 100x zoom somewhat successfully.

All three Pixel 10 models add the new Camera Coach feature. To access, tap the camera icon featuring the Gemini logo instead of the flash; this will scan your camera’s viewfinder and provide suggested shots, including different angles and subjects for capturing an ideal photo, along with step-by-step instructions and on-screen actions such as changing orientations and zooming in. There’s also the option to rescan if you don’t like what options are provided. Auto Best Take and Add Me features have been improved for ease of use.

Within Photos, Google redesigned its photo editor to make accessing features such as Magic Eraser, editing Best Take, Portrait Blur, etc., and making adjustments, like cropping or selecting items to remove, much simpler. The Help Me Edit feature, powered by Gemini, helps edit your photos. It analyzes your photo and offers suggestions to enhance its colors, from using AI to change clothes to adding objects to your image. You can also input requests, and both results turn out well-executed. The app also has an option to use Gemini’s Veo 3, which utilizes generative AI, to transform a photo into a 6-second video. Our results have been a mixed bag, with fun yet hit-or-miss outcomes.

Android 16

Google gives Android 16 almost a complete new overhaul, with loads of new refinements system-wide. The update adds a new default font, new color themes, design boxes that have rounded corners instead of sharp corners, redesigned native apps, and the Google widget that adds AI Mode, which offers summaries of searches and can book restaurant or movie reservations, and more.

The Pixel 10’s newest features consist of Daily Hub, Magic Cue, and Voice Translate. The Daily Hub feature acts as a daily agenda put together via AI and compiles calendar events, weather, and suggested news and YouTube videos. The feature is currently in preview mode and worked as advertised, but it’s not something I would gravitate towards. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the Magic Cue or Voice Translate feature to appear on our review units—even after several troubleshooting attempts.

Like Apple, you add your thoughts, images, videos, or locations in the Pixel Journal app. Google also added the My Pixel app for Pixel purchases, tips, and product support. Gboard adds Smart Editing with voice typing, which works well, but I’d prefer to retype or edit the message myself, and AI-based writing tools for suggestions and corrections. The Recorder app can now add music to your voice notes after analyzing the audio and matching it with the desired mood, based on the select options available. Previous features such as Audio Magic Eraser, Call Notes, Gemini Live, Magic Editor, Pixel Studio, Pixel Screenshots, and Pixel Weather are present with slight updates.

As with last year’s Pro models, the Pixel 10 Pro owners get a full year of Gemini AI Pro for free (this tier usually costs $240 per year), which offers the 2.5 Pro version of the Gemini app, limited access to Veo 3, Google’s AI image-to-video creator, and 2TB of storage across Google apps like Gmail, Drive, and Photos. Unlike for the Pixel 9 Pro launch, Gemini Live has been made free for users and no longer requires a paid subscription.

Google’s recognizable hardware continues to benefit from its software (Android 16, Gemini AI, and other features), which creates a remarkable marriage for an ideal user experience, to the point where the gap between them and the competition is becoming insurmountable. Apple trails behind in AI features, Siri is becoming stagnant, and Samsung is working with Google to borrow some of its features for its Galaxy smartphones. I think Google may have succeeded in crafting an excellent experience with the Pixel 10 lineup—but not without its shortcomings.

The $800 Pixel 10 is a good entry-level flagship phone, but it could use higher megapixel sensors for its ultrawide and telephoto cameras. The $1,000 Pixel 10 Pro is easily the top pick in offering Pro-level cameras and AI features without spending $1,200 on the Pixel 10 Pro XL, which offers everything from the 10 Pro but with a larger screen and battery. However, it may not be enough to persuade Pixel 9 users to switch, but for owners of Pixel 8 and older, this is the perfect upgrade. Speaking of switching phones, with Google having eSIM, a version of MagSafe, and a plethora of useful AI features readily available, the only question that remains is: Will the Pixel 10 phones convert more iPhone users over to Android?