Google's Pixel 10 Series: AI-Powered Smartphones Push the Boundaries of On-Device Intelligence

Pixel 10 vs. Pixel 10 Pro vs. Pixel 10 Pro XL: How Google's Latest Phones Compare

Expertise Smartphones | Gaming | Telecom industry | Mobile semiconductors | Mobile gaming Google's new Pixel 10 phones are here, and they boast a handful of spec upgrades over their predecessors, as well as more AI features. The three models look very similar to last year's Pixel 9 phones. There's a standard Pixel 10, a higher-spec Pixel 10 Pro and a large Pixel 10 Pro XL. There are still some differentiators between the baseline and Pro models, but that lead is shrinking with more top-level features trickling down. All in all, they're powerful handsets that rank among the year's best phones. Both the Pixel 10 ($799) and Pixel 10 Pro ($999) retain the prices of their predecessors, keeping them in line with their equivalents from other brands, like the Samsung Galaxy S25 ($799) and Galaxy S25 Plus ($999). But the Pixel 10 Pro XL got slightly more expensive this year, getting a $100 price bump to $1,199 (up from the $1,099 Pixel 9 Pro XL with 128GB of storage), likely to account for the higher 256GB starting storage option. The Pixel 10 lineup looks virtually the same as last year's Pixel 9 phones, leaving most of the upgrades under the hood. All three phones retain the general design of last year's phones: a metal back with a pill-shaped camera bump. The only major difference is that the glass on the Pixel 10's camera bump is slightly wider, owing to the third, telephoto camera fit into it. All three models are ever-so-slightly heavier than their predecessors (from 6 grams on the Pixel 10 to 11 grams on the Pixel 10 Pro XL), possibly due to their nominal battery capacity increases. The standard Pixel 10 retains its predecessor's 6.3-inch OLED display, though its maximum brightness has been increased to 3,000 nits (up from 2,700). Likewise, the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL inherit their 6.3-inch OLED and 6.8-inch OLED displays from their predecessors, but they also get maximum screen brightness increases to 3,300 nits (up from 3,000). As with other brands, Google has previously differentiated its standard and Pro models by reserving an extra zoom camera for its top-end phones. That changes this year, as the standard Pixel 10 gets a telephoto lens, shrinking the feature gap between the phone tiers. The Pixel 10 packs a 48-megapixel main camera, though its 13-megapixel ultrawide is a slight downgrade from the 50-megapixel ultrawide shooter in the Pixel 9, which means the new phone may not take as sharp of photos when set to its widest capture settings. The trade-off is the addition of a 10.8-megapixel telephoto with 5x zoom that still adds a lot of functionality, even if it may not take as high-resolution photos as the zoom cameras on its Pro siblings. The Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL retain their predecessors' trio of rear cameras: a 50-megapixel main, a 48-megapixel ultrawide and a 48-megapixel telephoto with 5x zoom. Ostensibly, not much has changed here, though they still take up to 8K video (better than the 4K video maximum on the Pixel 10). The selfie cameras on all three phones are unchanged from last year, but represent a boost when going from the 10.5-megapixel front-facing camera on the Pixel 10 to the 42-megapixel selfie shooters on the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL. This year's Pixel 10 lineup got the usual set of incremental upgrades along with slight boosts to battery capacity, which could have an impact, however small, on increasing battery life. Like the other models, the Pixel 10 gets the new Google Tensor G5 chip, which Google promises will perform better than its predecessor, last year's Tensor G4. The new handset inherits the Pixel 9's 12GB of RAM and baseline storage options of 128GB or 256GB. If you want more, you'll have to use cloud options or pay more for a Pro or Pro XL model. The Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL also have the Tensor G5 chip, which helps power new AI features. Similar to the base model, the Pro versions inherit the same specs as their predecessors: 16GB of RAM and the options of 128GB (Pixel 10 Pro only), 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage. Across the board, all models got slight battery capacity increases, though curiously, the Pixel 10 Pro has the least with 4,870-mAh (up from 4,700-mAh in the Pixel 9 Pro). The next largest is the standard Pixel 10, which got an increase to 4,970-mAh (up from 4,700-mAh in the Pixel 9). The Pixel 10 Pro XL has the largest battery with a 5,200-mAh capacity (up from 5,060mAh). The Pixel 10 Pro XL also has the edge in juicing up its battery, with a maximum 45-watt wired charging, compared to 30 watts on the Pixel 10 and 10 Pro. All three support Qi2 wireless charging. All three Pixel 10 phones receive Android 16 out of the box. It was released in June, a month after Google I/O 2025, far earlier than when it typically comes out (usually alongside that year's Pixel phones). They also get a slew of new AI features like Magic Cue, which scrapes data from Gmail, Google Messages, Google Calendar and other information sources to surface timely details and events.

Ahead of Apple's iPhone event next week, here's how the big smartphones stack up

The just-announced Pixel 10 Pro phones are Google's most advanced yet when it comes to AI capabilities, and arguably the most AI-forward options on the market. Google's AI focus with the Pixel 10 line goes right down to the decisions it made with the Tensor G5 system-on-chip, which was designed in-house and, for the first time, fabricated on TSMC's leading-edge 3nm process. But that hasn't brought a huge leap in performance; instead, Google is devoting a huge amount of the die space to Tensor cores, which handle on-device processing tasks. That means that the Pixel 10 doesn't perform all that well in benchmarks or gaming compared to other current flagship phones -- Google is putting its silicon where its mouth is when it comes to the importance of AI. This year, Magic Cue is the most prominent new AI feature, and it's notably reminiscent of what Apple claimed the iPhone would be able to do with Apple Intelligence. It's a context-aware feature that proactively surfaces information from across your other apps; for example, if you're in a chat and a friend mentions a restaurant reservation that's buried in another inbox, Magic Cue will suggest the information and relevant actions right there within your current app. This all runs on-device using Google's Gemini Nano model. Pixel phones have long been ahead of the curve when it comes to processing language on-device. The auto-transcribing Recorder app is a godsend for journalists, while the ability to automatically add translated subtitles to any audio or video in real time opens up whole new worlds of content. This year, the Pixel 10 adds the ability to translate phone calls in real time, meaning the person on the other end of the call hears you talking in their language in what sounds something like your own voice.