![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/images-12.fill.size_2000x1125.v1757104026.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAI features disappoint, but Pixelsnap makes the Pixel 10 series a tempting upgrade.<\/p>\n
\n We may earn a commission from links on this page.
\n Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.\n <\/p>\n
Design and Pixelsnap<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n A base pixel 10 (left) vs. a Pixel 10 Pro (center) vs. a Pixel 10 Pro XL (right)
\n Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt\n <\/p>\n
On the surface, the Pixel 10 Pro doesn\u2019t look much different from the Pixel 9 Pro, and that\u2019s a good thing. The Pixel 9 Pro was the first Google phone to come in multiple size options, and I\u2019m happy to see Google continue the trend here. That means you\u2019ll be able to choose between a Pixel 10 Pro, which is the same size as the base Pixel 10, and a Pixel 10 Pro XL, which is just a hair smaller than an iPhone 16 Pro Max (with a 6.8-inch screen as opposed to Apple\u2019s 6.9-inch screen). Both weigh about half a pound, but still feel premium thanks to a polished aluminum shell, and both still have a luxe matte backing, which means you don\u2019t have to worry about your phone\u2019s rear throwing off glare.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a foldable Pixel 10 Pro, called the Pixel 10 Pro Fold<\/a>, although it\u2019s not out until next month, and it’s enough of its own beast that it\u2019s worthy of a standalone review.<\/p>\n Really, the one disappointment I have with the design is the return of the camera bar, which is what Google calls the large horizontal oval that stretches nearly the entire width of the phone and houses the camera system. While it gives the Pixel a unique look, other phones with powerful camera systems, like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra<\/a>, manage to keep the lenses restricted to one corner of the device, which looks a bit tidier to me. The camera bar can also get in the way when holding the phone horizontally, which can be a pain while gaming or watching movies. I was hoping Google might move on to a different solution after getting rid of the camera bar in its budget-oriented Pixel 9a<\/a>, but for its main phone, it seems like it\u2019s sticking to the tried-and-not-so-true camera design it\u2019s been using since the Pixel 6.<\/p>\n \n The Pixel 10 Pro XL using a Belkin MagSafe charger That said, there is one new addition that makes every other Pixel seem old hat: Google finally has its own version of MagSafe. Called Pixelsnap<\/a>, it allows immediate connection to magnetic accessories without any sort of adhesive metal rings, and supports Qi2 charging<\/a>. Google\u2019s got a few official accessories<\/a> already, with more on the way, but the company also made a big deal of saying that Pixelsnap will also work with existing MagSafe devices, and in my testing, that was true. It worked with my official Belkin iPhone charging stand, as well as a third-party portable charger and even my MagSafe wallet. I\u2019ve gotten pretty accustomed to MagSafe ever since upgrading from my iPhone 11 years ago, so as simple as this update is, it\u2019s probably the biggest reason to get Google\u2019s new phone, at least to me. It even comes with a new customizable screensaver mode you can use while charging, similar to Apple\u2019s StandBy mode<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Pixel 10 Pro\u2019s AI isn\u2019t worth the upgrade<\/p>\n That said, as much as I love Pixelsnap, Google\u2019s own advertisements for the Pixel 10 instead focus all on AI. That\u2019s predictable at this point, although how much use you\u2019ll get out of it mostly depends on how much you like AI image generation.<\/p>\n Yep, most of the new AI is baked directly into either the camera or photos app<\/a>. Now, you can edit your photos by giving Gemini prompts in natural language, and get some help coming up with ideas for potential photos by asking AI to help \u201ccoach\u201d you on what to take. Perhaps most interesting, the Pro models also offer an AI-assisted \u201c100x zoom,\u201d also called \u201cPro Res Zoom.\u201d While that sounds like the most useful new addition on paper, it\u2019s also where I ran into the most problems.<\/p>\n 100x Zoom is a lie<\/p>\n Long story short, calling the Pixel 10 Pro\u2019s new AI-assisted zoom a \u201c100x zoom\u201d is a misnomer. The Pixel 10 Pro\u2019s optical zoom is still limited to 5x, and any zoom beyond that still relies on software. It\u2019s just that, while previous models relied on cropping and blending multiple photos together to do a software zoom, the Pixel 10 Pro\u2019s \u201c100x zoom\u201d instead feeds any photos above 30x zoom into an on-device AI, which then uses it as a prompt for an AI-generated edit. You\u2019re not going to get any more resolution here than you would on a Pixel 9 Pro, and unfortunately, what the AI ended up giving me disappointed me more often than not.<\/p>\n Take this photo of my absolute favorite building in the New York City skyline, the Chrysler building. The Chrysler building has a famous facade (seen here<\/a>), and yet the \u201c100x zoom\u201d not only failed to recreate it, but instead kind of made it look like the building was melting. This is a photo of something that just does not exist, and I\u2019m still not sure how to come to terms with that.<\/p>\n \n Pixel 10 Pro using ‘100x zoom’ on the Chrysler Building Similarly, there\u2019s this photo of an airplane, which looks straight out of another universe.<\/p>\n \n Pixel 10 Pro using ‘100x zoom’ on an airplane And I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve ever seen the \u201cbird\u201d the AI tried to put on top of this weather vane before.<\/p>\n \n Pixel 10 Pro using ‘100x zoom’ on a weather vane To be fair to the 100x zoom, all of the source photos here were incredibly blurry\u2014it\u2019s hard not to be from so far away. But to me, AI hallucination<\/a> isn\u2019t preferable to that, especially if it\u2019s not exactly clear to the average person that that\u2019s what\u2019s happening. Calling this \u201c100x zoom\u201d implies that your phone is taking a picture of reality, but I\u2019d hate to think I captured a photo of a landmark only to get a fake AI photo back, something that I probably could have gotten just by going to the Gemini website and asking for a photo of the Chrysler building from scratch. Imagine if posted that to social media and bragged about it! I couldn\u2019t live down the comments.<\/p>\n And if you\u2019re curious what 100x zoom looks like at night, here you go\u2014lighting artifacts become solid geometric patterns, as if you were taking photos of sci-fi hard light holograms.\u00a0<\/p>\n Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt\n <\/p>\n On the plus side, you can also view and save your zoomed-in source photos before they get AI-ified, although while I prefer the blur to AI, they\u2019re still not too useful in the grand scheme of things. This is technically new to the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL as well, but it\u2019s not that the hardware is any more capable\u2014it\u2019s just that the Pixel 9 Pro had the sense to cut off its zoom before it got useless.<\/p>\n Camera Coach is a one-and-done<\/p>\n As for the other new AI camera features, they\u2019re available on the base Pixel 10 as well, and while they\u2019re less obtrusive, I\u2019m not sure how helpful they are. First off, there\u2019s the AI Camera Coach, which needs you to be connected to data or wifi before you can use it. That\u2019s strike one\u2014the Pixel 10\u2019s other AI tools are all on-device\u2014and strike two is that it didn\u2019t seem that useful to me out of controlled scenarios. Essentially, it instructs an AI to look through your camera\u2019s viewfinder to help you brainstorm shots, and gives you step-by-step instructions on how to achieve them. That\u2019s a decent way to incorporate AI into taking photos without actually putting AI imagery into your results, but the advice it gave me never really went beyond \u201cyou should follow the rule of thirds.\u201d<\/p>\n \n A screenshot of Camera Coach running on the Pixel 10 Pro That\u2019s a shame, because while I appreciated Camera Coach in a controlled demo with Google (it genuinely suggested more dynamic shots than the Google staffer had originally captured) the advice it gave me at home leaned more towards telling me to \u201cmove the frame above the subjects\u2019 waists,\u201d which was especially frustrating when I had already done that. It might be helpful if you struggle with your vision and want some help knowing how to capture a memory, but it adds enough of a wait between taking and saving a photo (since it wants you to follow its advice first) that I think most people will try it once and then skip it, especially with how simple its advice is.<\/p>\n You can ask Gemini to edit photos for you<\/p>\n Finally, for AI camera features, all models of the Pixel 10 can now edit their photos by asking Gemini to make changes to them using natural language. It\u2019s less adding new functionality and more making it easier to access existing functionality, for instance by allowing you to use Magic Eraser<\/a> even if you don\u2019t know the proper sequence of buttons to press to do it yourself.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, that means your mileage will vary based on the tools Gemini opts to use in your edits. I asked it to erase a fence from this shot below, as well as a sign from another shot, and the imagery it put in their place looked a little fake to me.<\/p>\n \n Edits made by Gemini on Pixel 10 Pro That said, I was impressed by how it removed the glare from this photo of a truck.<\/p>\n \n Glare removed by Gemini on Pixel 10 Pro I appreciate the added user-friendliness here, but my complaint is that the AI doesn\u2019t exactly make it clear what tools it\u2019s using to make its edits, which means it might add AI-generated imagery without you knowing. That could be an issue if you\u2019re looking to avoid hallucination, but unfortunately, you won\u2019t be able to check whether AI was used unless you look into the photo\u2019s metadata afterwards. That\u2019s not exactly reassuring if it makes a minor hallucination and you don\u2019t notice until after you\u2019ve posted your photo online.<\/p>\n Magic Cue and Voice Translate<\/p>\n New AI features that aren\u2019t focused on the camera are a bit slim this year, and I didn\u2019t get much use out of either of them. The big one is called Magic Cue, and it\u2019s supposed to use AI to pop relevant info up on your screen as you need it.<\/p>\n In other words, say you\u2019re calling an airline about an upcoming flight. It might find your boarding pass in your Gmail and put it on your screen to reference it. Or, say you\u2019re texting a friend about a dinner reservation. It could find the restaurant\u2019s address in an earlier text and display it for you. It sounds genuinely useful, and because the AI is entirely on-device, it\u2019s supposed to be private.<\/p>\n Credit: Google\n <\/p>\n Unfortunately, in my week of using the Pixel 10 Pro, I never once saw Magic Cue show up for me. I double checked to make sure it was enabled, and indeed it was, but here\u2019s the trick: It turns out I don\u2019t actually call airlines or make important dinner plans over Messages too often. Maybe my social life is just a little too quiet right now, but while Magic Cue works with Gmail, Messages, Keep Notes, Contacts, Google Calendar, and Pixel Screenshots, I mostly use my phone to watch videos, chat on Slack\/Discord, or access third-party social networks. If that sounds like you, you probably won\u2019t see Magic Cue too often either, and while it\u2019s a nice, unobtrusive way to incorporate AI into your daily routine, I wouldn\u2019t buy a new phone for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another feature I didn\u2019t get a chance to try was Voice Translate. This is an on-device AI voice cloning system that allows you to speak to someone else over the phone in one language, then have an AI translate what you\u2019re saying and speak to them using an approximation of your own voice. It sounds impressive, if a little creepy, and it worked well in a staged demo during Made by Google<\/a>. Unfortunately, because it requires both users to have a Pixel 10 (with separate phone numbers), I didn\u2019t yet have anyone I could try it out with. You might be a bit more lucky, but until Google brings this to a wider install base, it seems like more of a proof-of-concept than anything else. Again, I wouldn\u2019t buy a new phone for it.<\/p>\n There are a few other AI features in the Pixel 10<\/a>, and while I appreciate that Google\u2019s generally trying to make its AI experiences a bit easier to access this year, I ultimately think that they don\u2019t quite escape the realm of novelty, unless you only use your phone with Google\u2019s own apps and don\u2019t care if AI makes your zoomed-in shots look a little melty.<\/p>\n Google\u2019s first fully custom chip is still a Tensor<\/p>\n Aside from Pixelsnap and AI, the final major upgrade Google\u2019s made to the Pixel 10 this year is to the processor. After years of using a semi-custom chip made in collaboration with Samsung, Google has finally graduated to its first fully custom chip, just like Apple. Called the Tensor G5, it\u2019s what enables all those on-device AI tricks above, but in other apps, it unfortunately runs into the same problems as its predecessors.<\/p>\n In short, Tensor is still kind of weak in benchmarks and third-party apps. In Geekbench 6, a commonly used synthetic benchmark that tests general performance, my Pixel 10 Pro scored 2,315 on single-core tasks and 6,419 on multi-core tasks, with my Pixel 10 Pro XL hitting similar numbers. Those aren\u2019t bad scores on their own, but compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, they\u2019re about 1,000 points behind on both metrics<\/a>, which puts the performance closer to a last-gen and non-Pro Samsung Galaxy S24+.<\/p>\n What do you think so far?<\/p>\n That trend continued across multiple other tests, including the Geekbench 6 GPU test and the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Test. In that, both of my Pixel 10 Pros hovered around 20 fps, while the iPhone 16 Pro hit 27.5 fps.<\/p>\n To be fair, benchmarks only tell part of the story, but given what I got during actual use with a demanding app, I believe them. In Genshin Impact, a popular mobile game with console level graphics, I couldn\u2019t go above high settings at 30 fps before the game started overclocking my phone, and if I wanted a smoother 60 fps without overclocking, I had to use low settings. If I chose to use overclocking, I could use the highest available settings at 60 fps without any hitches, but both the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL heated up quickly while playing this way, which made them uncomfortable to use over an extended session. Meanwhile, my several-generations-behind iPhone 15 Pro is comfortable to hold over a few hours while playing on the game\u2019s highest settings and with the framerate set to 60 fps.<\/p>\n That\u2019s basically the same experience I\u2019ve gotten on every Pixel I\u2019ve tested to date. So while this is Google\u2019s first fully custom chip, it still has the same issues as all the other Tensor chips. It plays well with Google\u2019s own experiences, and I believe the company when it says that it goes a long way towards enabling new on-device AI. But for everything else, expect it to lag behind other flagships.<\/p>\n The cameras remain solid<\/p>\n New AI features aside, the base camera hardware on both the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL remain unchanged from the Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL. Like the overall design, that\u2019s good news, since I quite liked the camera on that phone. In particular, while the main and ultrawide lenses are roughly equivalent to the iPhone\u2019s, the telephoto lens is much higher resolution, at 48MP rather than 12MP.<\/p>\n In other words, assuming your phone hasn\u2019t injected AI into your shots, you can expect crisp, clear, and true-to-life visuals on all but the most distant subjects. My only complaint is that the postprocessing on night shots tends to brighten up the sky a bit too much for my liking, but that\u2019s pretty subjective\u2014plenty of my colleagues prefer it.<\/p>\n See for yourself. Here are a few shots taken on both the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL at various zoom levels, across both night and day.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n A collage of photos taken on the Google Pixel 10 Pro Overall, I think you\u2019ll be pretty happy with the Pixel 10 Pro\u2019s camera. And if you want to ensure AI doesn\u2019t get added to your zoomed-in shots, which can happen with the new 100x \u201cPro Res Zoom,\u201d here\u2019s a trick\u2014if you take your shots in 50MP mode rather than 12MP mode, the AI will steer clear of them entirely. Even better, you\u2019ll get a higher resolution, although your shots will take up more data, and you won\u2019t be able to go past a 30x zoom.\u00a0<\/p>\n A slightly brighter display<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/images-10.fill.size_2000x1125.v1757104026.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt\n <\/p>\n![\"Pixel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/images-4.fill.size_2000x1125.v1757103114.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt\n <\/p>\n![\"Pixel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/images-5.fill.size_2000x1125.v1757103114.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt\n <\/p>\n![\"Pixel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/images-6.fill.size_2000x1125.v1757103114.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt\n <\/p>\n![\"Pixel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/images-9.fill.size_2000x1125.v1757103698.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/images-3.fill.size_2000x896.v1757103114.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt\n <\/p>\n![\"Gemini](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/images-1.fill.size_2000x1125.v1757103114.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt\n <\/p>\n![\"Glare](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/images-2.fill.size_2000x1125.v1757103114.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt\n <\/p>\n![\"Magic](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/images-7.fill.size_2000x1013.v1757103115.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n![\"Pixel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/images-8.fill.size_2000x1125.v1757103697.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt\n <\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/images-11.fill.size_2000x1125.v1757104026.jpg\")
<\/p>\n