When Google finally revealed the Pixel 10 series last week, I was there. I got to attend a secret preview of the phones a week before the launch, and I was in the live audience for the cringeworthy Jimmy Fallon event that showed the phones to the public for the first time. It was an incredibly exciting time for me, because I’m a huge fan of what Google is trying to do with its Pixel line.
But you know who wasn’t so excited about it? A lot of you.
Almost immediately after the reveal, the internet’s various comment sections and social media feeds filled with a familiar, cynical refrain: “It’s just the Pixel 9 Pro again.” After spending an hour reading through a ton of the comments, the sentiment of the public was clear to me: the Pixel 10 Pro, at least on the surface, is a disappointment and not worth the upgrade.
Did you buy a Pixel 10 phone? 165 votes Yes, the Pixel 10 1 % Yes, the Pixel 10 Pro 23 % Yes, the Pixel 10 Pro XL 21 % Yes, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold 2 % No, but I might get one 23 % No, I will not buy a Pixel 10 phone 30 %
Well, after spending a solid week with the Pixel 10 Pro, I’m here to tell you, with all due respect…you’re all wrong. The problem is that the phone’s design and spec sheet don’t tell the whole story. The Pixel 10 Pro is a classic case of its biggest upgrades being experiential, not something you can quantify in a simple chart. While it may look like its predecessor, using it reveals several new camera features that will make capturing memories better and easier, new on-device AI tools that will up productivity and reduce unnecessary taps and swipes, and crucial quality-of-life hardware additions that make the phone universally better and more useful.
If you’ve already written this phone off, I urge you to reconsider. Let’s dive into what makes the Pixel 10 Pro so much more than meets the eye.
So much more than a fresh coat of paint
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Let me address the elephant in the room first. Yes, the Pixel 10 Pro looks almost identical to the Pixel 9 Pro (above, the Pixel 10 Pro is on the right). I’ve been using the stunning Moonstone colorway of the Pixel 10 Pro, and it looks and feels fantastic — premium, well-balanced, and unmistakably a Pixel. But this physical similarity is the very root of the misconception that this is a lazy update. If your investigation begins and ends with a side-by-side visual comparison, you’ll miss everything that makes this phone special.
Yes, the Pixel 10 Pro looks the same as the Pixel 9 Pro. No argument there. But you need to look past this to see its benefits.
It’s only when you start using the phone that the differences become apparent. It’s a sequel, for sure, but one that introduces so many new mechanics that it feels genuinely fresh.
Camera
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Pixel fans live and die by the camera, so let me start there. No, Google didn’t dramatically upgrade the camera hardware. The main, ultrawide, telephoto, and selfie sensors are all the same as last year’s. This fact alone has fueled a significant amount of the “no reason to upgrade” fire. However, there actually is a fairly significant hardware difference this year that many are ignoring: OIS.
The camera hardware is mostly the same, but there are hardware and software upgrades people aren't talking about enough.
The main camera’s optical image stabilization (OIS) system now has double the range of motion. For the uninitiated, OIS involves physically moving the camera lens module to counteract the shake and jitter from your hands. By doubling how far the lens can move, the Pixel 10 Pro can compensate for much larger movements, resulting in smoother video footage, even when you’re walking. It’s a subtle hardware tweak that pays huge dividends in the final product (see the video above for an example). Unfortunately, this only applies to the main camera, but it’s still notable and a step in the right direction.
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
Although it’s not a hardware upgrade, very few people seem to be talking about the introduction of full-resolution 50MP portraits. On the Pixel 9 Pro, switching to portrait mode automatically forces the camera to output a 12MP binned image, where data from multiple pixels is combined into one. This process is great for low light but sacrifices fine detail. On the Pixel 10 Pro, you now have a choice: the leaner 12MP shot or a full-fat 50MP portrait. The 50MP option captures an incredible amount of detail, allowing you to crop in significantly without losing quality. I’ve also noticed that the extra data seems to help Google’s algorithms produce slightly better edge detection, an area where Pixels have sometimes struggled. This feels like a direct response to user feedback, and it’s a welcome addition for photography enthusiasts.
Google excels at figuring out ways to make the camera more useful — and that rarely involves increasing megapixel counts.
The brand new Auto Best Take feature is also not getting enough praise. I posted a Short on my YouTube channel about this, and I saw numerous comments come in from parents talking about how important this feature will be for them. When they try to take photos with their young kids, some will inadvertently (or intentionally — kids be kids) ruin the shot by looking in the wrong direction, closing their eyes, etc. Having the phone automatically capture a burst of shots and then find the best one — or stitch one together — will be a genuine life-enhancing thing for parents.
And then there’s the controversial star of the show: 100x Super Res Zoom. Let me be clear about what this is. When you take a photo at 100x zoom, the image is fed into a generative AI diffusion model that lives on the phone. This AI then creates a brand new, cleaner image based on the data you gave it. The result is not a “real” photo in the traditional sense; it’s the AI’s interpretation of the scene. In my testing, it works as advertised, turning a previously unusable, pixelated mess into something that at least could be usable in certain situations — most of the time, anyway.
3x Zoom 6x Zoom 10x Zoom 30x Zoom 60x Zoom 100x Zoom
However, this feature comes with an ethical asterisk. The AI can sometimes take creative liberties, especially with complex patterns or text. It’s a bit spooky, and I know many people are uncomfortable with the idea of their camera generating images rather than just capturing them. To its credit, Google has implemented a crucial safeguard: if the AI recognizes a person in the frame, it deactivates the diffusion model to prevent it from creating an artificial representation of a human being. The photo still gets cleaned up, but the underlying image remains real.
Anyway, Super Res Zoom is a divisive (but fascinating) feature that is only possible thanks to the power of the new Tensor G5 chip.
Speaking of the new silicon, let’s talk about Tensor G5.
Tensor G5
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
For the folks only interested in benchmarks, comparisons, and other data, let me point you to this amazing Tensor G5 deep dive by my friend Robert Triggs. For the folks who just want the basic gist of the data, here’s a one-sentence summary: Tensor G5 is verifiably more performant and more battery efficient than Tensor G4, but the GPU results are essentially the same as last year.
I don’t want to dwell on these numbers, though. Instead, I want to focus on the tangible, everyday features that Tensor G5 enables — things that simply don’t work on the Pixel 9 series.
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
My favorite new addition is Magic Cue. This on-device AI helper has already saved me a ton of hassle. The other day, my partner messaged me to ask where I was going for a dinner event Qualcomm was hosting. As I was typing a reply, Magic Cue popped up a little button with the restaurant’s name and address. It knew about the event from my calendar and proactively offered the information — accurate information, at that! A single tap inserted the info into my message. I didn’t need to close Messages, open my Calendar, find the event, copy the address, switch back to Messages, and paste it all in. I just hit a button. This all happens locally on the phone, meaning it’s not sending my conversations to the cloud, which is a huge plus for privacy.
There are multiple features of the Pixel 10 series that won't trickle down to earlier Pixels because Tensor G5 is a necessary component.
Then there’s Pixel Journal, an on-device AI journaling app. It prompts you with thoughtful questions to get your creative juices flowing and can automatically pull in media from Google Photos or location data from Maps to enrich your entries. Because it’s all processed on-device, it remains completely private (unless you choose to back it up to the cloud, which is an option, but not active by default). You can even lock it behind your PIN. It’s a beautifully designed and genuinely useful tool for mindfulness.
Even existing features are better. I’m a heavy user of voice typing, and on the Pixel 10 Pro, it’s more powerful than ever. I can now use my voice to edit text as I go. For example, I can say a sentence and then say, “capitalize the word ‘Qualcomm,'” and it will fix it. I can also say “replace ‘diner’ with ‘restaurant'” to swap words on the fly. It makes the best voice typing experience on any phone even better.
Pixelsnap and more
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
For years, Pixel fans have looked on with envy at the iPhone’s MagSafe ecosystem. Well, the wait is over. The single coolest new thing about the Pixel 10 Pro is Pixelsnap, a system of Qi2-compliant magnets on the back of the phone that makes it fully compatible with MagSafe accessories.
I can’t overemphasize how great this is. Snapping my phone onto a charging stand on my nightstand with a satisfying “snap” is a delight. It also enables faster wireless charging than the Pixel 9 Pro — once again, a tangible hardware upgrade that few are mentioning. But the real game-changer is the immediate access to thousands of existing accessories. Wallets, car mounts, tripods, battery packs — if it’s made for MagSafe, it will work with the Pixel 10.
This article is already pretty long, and I haven’t even touched on all the other cool new additions to the Pixel 10 Pro: It’s the first phone with a built-in Thread radio.
It has Bluetooth 6, a big leap over Bluetooth 5.3 in the Pixel 9 Pro.
The display is 10% brighter.
It charges with a cable at a faster 30W.
It has a bigger battery than the Pixel 9 Pro.
The always-on display (AOD) can now show your wallpaper.
The stereo speakers are louder with more bass.
256GB models have been upgraded to the much faster UFS 4.0 standard, and zoned UFS 4.0 storage is supported on the 512GB and 1TB models. The bottom line for all this is that each of the new upgrades might seem minor on their own, but when you combine everything together, you get a far more polished and capable device — something that is a significant and tangible upgrade over the Pixel 9 Pro.
Of course, I’m no Google simp. I can also admit there are some disappointments.
OK, it’s not perfect…
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Now, after all that praise, let me be clear: the Pixel 10 Pro is not a perfect phone. Google left a few long-standing issues unaddressed, and some of its decisions are genuinely disappointing.
First and foremost is the storage. The base model of the Pixel 10 Pro still starts at 128GB. In 2025, for a $1,000 flagship phone that shoots 50MP photos and high-resolution video, that’s simply not enough. In 2024, I paid more for the Pixel 9 Pro with 256GB of storage, and while I never came close to filling it, I appreciated not needing to worry about it. I didn’t make that upgrade this year, and being stuck with half the storage and being forced to perform regular data hygiene to prevent myself from going over feels cheap. This is especially concerning when rumors suggest Apple might finally move to a 256GB base for its next iPhones, which would make Google look bad.
It sucks that 128GB is still the starting amount of storage for a $1,000 phone in 2025.
Face Unlock could also have used some love. It still works very well in good lighting, but it becomes frustratingly unreliable in dim environments. I understand the likely reason for this — improving it would probably require more advanced sensors, which would mean a larger display cutout like Apple’s Dynamic Island. I personally prefer the Pixel’s discreet hole-punch, but the functional trade-off is becoming harder to ignore.
It’s also disappointing that Google still hasn’t fixed the jarring video stutter when you switch between camera lenses while recording. Seeing that little jitter as the view swaps from the main lens to the telephoto lens is a real bummer and makes the experience feel unpolished. Apple figured out how to make this smoother years ago, so there’s really no excuse for Google at this point.
It's wild that Google hasn't figured out how to make lens-switching during video recording more smooth. Apple has.
My final criticism is the modem. While Tensor G5 is a big leap forward, it uses the same modem as the Pixel 9 Pro. Personally, I haven’t had significant connectivity issues with recent Pixels, but I know many users in other countries have faced persistent network problems. Not upgrading the modem feels like a missed opportunity for Google to address those concerns and put them to bed for good.
Really, though, these criticisms are relatively minor things in the grand scheme of what the Pixel 10 Pro offers.
A phone that’s more than the sum of its parts
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Before I even got the Pixel 10 Pro, I knew I was going to be using it as my daily driver going forward, and this first week with it hasn’t changed that. In fact, all it’s done is make me even more excited about its potential, especially with seven years of Pixel Drops promising more features to come.
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The Pixel 10 Pro is a testament to the idea that innovation isn’t always about flashy redesigns or bigger numbers on a spec sheet. It’s about thoughtful software, intelligent features that solve real problems, and listening to your users.
The Pixel 10 Pro might not be an essential upgrade for a Pixel 9 Pro owner, but to say it's not worthy of an upgrade at all is just flat-out incorrect.
If you’ve made it this far, and are still on the fence, let me say this. If you currently use a Pixel 9 phone and have the money to spare, I am certain you will be more than happy with a Pixel 10 Pro ($999 at Amazon) upgrade. If you don’t have the money, though, waiting for the Pixel 11 series is fine, too. If you have an older Pixel — especially anything that pre-dates the Pixel 7 series — the Pixel 10 Pro is absolutely worth the upgrade. You will feel so many jumps in performance, camera, and usability.
Finally, if you’re one of the folks out there who has already rejected this phone because you think it doesn’t have enough upgrades, all I can say is this: you’re only hurting yourself with that decision. You’re looking at the cover and refusing to read the book. And you’re missing out on one of the smartest, most enjoyable, and most significant smartphone releases of the year.
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