2025
If you just look at the Pixel 10’s physical design, you’re going to be disappointed. Google’s new $800 Android smartphone looks almost identical to last year’s Pixel 9, save for an additional 5x telephoto camera lens and some new colors, including the makes-me-smile Indigo blue. But like most new phones, there are a bunch of small upgrades internally that add up to a better daily experience, even if they’re not revolutionary. All of that stuff is good and necessary for a new phone—though, there are some features that are a downgrade—but the real star of the Pixel 10 is AI. Google has injected a heavy dose of AI and Gemini into Android to make the Pixel 10 feel genuinely more personalized and helpful.
The Pixel 10 is still fundamentally the touchscreen phone experience that Apple pioneered with the original iPhone. Android 16, with the new Material 3 Expressive design language, is still a home screen of app icons and widgets that you tap and swipe through. More than before, AI and Gemini are integrated in more places. There’s a lot of AI to take in and learn, and it’ll take more than the one week I’ve been testing the Pixel 10 to rewire my brain to not only use the phone’s many AI features but also remember that they exist. However, I can already see where Google thinks phones are headed—the intersection of phones and AI is inevitable, whether you like it or not.
Google Pixel 10 Google's Pixel 10 is less about the tech specs and more about the AI and Gemini features that help you do things faster or easier. Pros Many useful AI features
Many useful AI features Great screen
Great screen Indigo color rules
Indigo color rules All-day battery life
All-day battery life Qi2 and Pixelsnap wireless charging Cons Camera downgrades
Camera downgrades Some useless AI features
Some useless AI features No more reverse wireless charging
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