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Google loves AI and cameras, which is why both are front and center on the new Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL smartphones. While I have mixed feelings about AI appearing everywhere, its use in Google’s new Pro Res Zoom (100x) camera mode is not only impressive, it’s almost too good.
Until now, only Samsung and OnePlus have thrown something as wild as a 100x zoom into a smartphone, which is a tall task. I’ve used both, and the results are always a mixed bag. It’s cool to zoom in 100x on a building, but the image is always a blurry mess. It’s neat, but the images aren’t actually useful. That all changed with the Pixel 10 Pro. Mostly.
What Is Google’s Pro Res Zoom?
Cory Gunther / How-To Geek
While the Pro Res Zoom feature isn’t new to Google’s Pixel lineup of phones, it took things to a new level with the latest Pixel 10 Pro series. The way it works is pretty technical, but once you zoom past 30x, the phone will capture multiple photos of the scene, upscale the images from 5x to 100x using its “diffusion upscaling,” and then employ a little AI magic to deliver a finished photo.
Once you snap the shutter button, Google takes the photos and quickly runs them through an “AI” processor that uses generative AI to fill in the details, spitting out what’s more of a “picture” than an actual photo.
Pro Res Zoom takes what made Google’s Super Res Zoom special and integrates more AI magic into the process. Zoom in, snap a photo, and you’ll even see an AI overlay pulsing and thinking while it processes the image and delivers the final results.
As you’ll see below, the results are absolutely incredible, if not ridiculous. The 100x zoom photos I managed to take while reviewing the Pixel 10 Pro XL blew me away. My friends were also shocked and amazed by the results. Well, most of the time, but more on that in a moment.
Pro Res Zoom in Action
Before I post up some results, I want to mention that Google’s camera app doesn’t make it very clear that this feature even exists, which is wild. Unlike Samsung, which has buttons you can tap to instantly jump to 20x, 30x, 50x, or 100x, the Pixel 10 Pro tops out at 30x. The only way to go further is to slide your finger along the on-screen zoom dial manually. It’ll jump to random numbers like 50x, 85x, then 100x.
Once you master zooming in, finding focal lengths, and holding still, you’ll produce some truly remarkable images.
In the gallery below, you’ll watch my Pixel 10 Pro XL capture a water tower above the treeline far into the distance. Look at that first photo, you can barely even see the water tower, but it’s there, waiting for the Pixel 10 Pro to find it. The second set is a street sign, and when zoomed in, you can literally see the lines in the wood. The Pixel 10 Pro XL captures it all.
I don’t know about you guys, but that’s pretty impressive. I never got this type of quality out of my Ultra Samsung phone. The images were always very blurry.
The Before and After
Naturally, any AI-enhanced photo can look good, but even the before photos from the Pixel 10 Pro are better than expected. Even without all the AI magic, the 100x photos are at least serviceable. Take a look and see for yourself.
It’s pretty neat that the Pixel 10 Pro saves both images, which you can view in Google Photos. At first, the water tower is still highly visible, and the words are legible, but things are a little blurry. Without the AI enhancements, this is still a pretty incredible photo for a smartphone, given the distance.
In another example, I took a few photos of the full blood moon last week. Again, Google’s Pixel 10 Pro surprised me with what it was able to capture. The first photo is at 50x, then another at 100x in its original form. And finally, the third photo is at 100x after being processed. It’s almost too good.
A few years ago, there was some controversy around this topic, and Samsung had to explain how its phones were taking such great moon photos. Huawei dealt with a similar situation. In reality, both brands used AI to help out. Google’s essentially doing the same thing here, but on any Pro Res Zoom photo.
Where Pro Res Zoom Struggles
Cory Gunther / How-To Geek
The finished image is only as good as the details Google’s AI has to work with. As a result, if you zoom into anything too small, push the limits, or the sensor doesn’t get enough information, the AI tends to fill in the gaps with nonsense.
The water tower photos are an excellent example, but that’s because it’s a massive subject with a few easily identifiable letters. If you zoom into something much smaller, like a street sign several blocks away, if you can’t make out the name, Google’s AI can’t. That’s where things start to fall apart. Instead of impressive results, you could get odd words that don’t make sense, objects that blur together, and other oddities.
Still, the Pixel 10 Pro will yield stunning “photos” in most situations when you use the Pro Res Zoom mode. That said, Google already confirmed it has a human detection aspect, so it won’t enhance people and faces when you zoom in close enough. It’ll be interesting how that works in person, as I’ll be going to a few NFL games here soon and can’t wait to test it out.
Unfortunately, know that when you zoom in far enough to capture certain images, things aren’t what they seem. Sometimes, the software creates a picture rather than capturing a photo. Depending on the situation, AI will imagine what your eyes can’t see at 100x zoom.
On the flipside, when the Pixel 10 Pro gets things right, it’s incredible. Overall, I’m extremely happy with what I’ve seen from the Pixel 10 Pro XL and its cameras. It often delivers stunning results you’ll happily share on social media or with friends and family. But it also begs the question, what is a photo anymore?
- Brand
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Google
- SoC
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Google Tensor G5
- Display
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6.8-inch Super Actua, 20:9
- RAM
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16 GB RAM
- Storage
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256 GB / 512 GB with Zoned UFS / 1 TB with Zoned UFS
- Battery
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5200mAh
Need a bigger phone? The Pixel 10 Pro XL offers just that. While you largely get the same experience as the 10 Pro, you’ll get a bigger screen and bigger battery—so you won’t be missing out on anything over the standard-sized 10 Pro.