Intro

So, let’s dive in. Did Google finally give us a non-Pro Pixel that doesn’t feel like a compromise?

Design and Size

Still Pixel. Just more grown-up.

Not much changes here visually — you’ve still got the aluminum frame, the glass back, and yes, the camera bar. It’s still very “Pixel,” very much matte aluminum and glass. We can’t really call it a facelift even. But then again — it still looks and feels great!

Maybe the colors are a bit different — the Pixel 10 comes in Indigo, Frost, Lemongrass, and Obsidian, the Pixel 9 is available in Obsidian, Porcelain, Wintergreen, and Peony.

And while we’re here — don’t expect drastic changes to durability. Gorilla Glass Victus 2 stays. It’s on the front and back of both the Pixel 10 and Pixel 9 phones with its superior drop protection. And they are IP68-rated for dust- and water-resistance. That said, don’t go testing them out, just have a little peace of mind.

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Display Differences

Here’s where Pixel 10 stretches its legs a bit. Google is keeping the same 6.3-inch OLED panel as last year, with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, tall 20:9 ratio, but the brightness hops a couple of steps up — now at 3,000 nits peak, from 2,700 nits peak. Base SDR brightness also goes to 2,000 nits from 1,800 nits. Probably not a very perceivable improvement, but some extra headroom for the display to have to “go to” when under sunlight.

At all-screen brightness, both panels perform about the same. We also test 20% brightness, where we engage a portion of the screen at full power to simulate more of a real-life use case. This is where we see the Pixel 10 pull ahead, incing closer to that 10% improvement in top brightness.

The color charts show us that both phones are very close in calibration. In our case, the Pixel 10‘s white point hovers closer to ideal. But it’s worth noting that every OLED panel has slight deviations here, so we can’t guarantee that every Pixel 10 has colors that are more accurate than every Pixel 9‘s screen.

One thing we always want to improve is the minimum brightness. Being closer to or below 1 nit is ideal for bedside viewing. Surprisingly, the Pixel 10 actually did slightly worse, going above 2 nits at minimum.

For biometrics, we have ultrasonic fingerprint scanners on both — that’s the superior type of under-screen fingerprint sensors. Plus, there’s face unlock via the selfie cameras, which is boosted for security by AI algorithms.

Performance and Software

Tensor grows up by shrinking the pathways down

Now this is the big one. After years of Google kind of staying a step behind and getting Samsung designs for its chips, the Tensor G5 is now a real, fully custom chip, manufactured by TSMC on a 3nm process. That’s a huge leap over the Tensor G4 — 34% CPU power, Google says.

When compared to its biggest competitors, the Tensor G5 is still not the top dog on the market. But we are here to talk Pixels — how does it fare against its previous generation?

Definite, undeniable gains in the CPU tests. To be fair, Pixels have never felt slow with their custom software being tuned to work with the hardware. But you know that when downloading 3rd party games and heavy apps from the Play Store, it’s better to have the raw numbers to back you up. And, with the Pixel 10, you do.

The GPU also definitely hits better. Granted, when it throttles, it’s not far away from the Pixel 9‘s “throttle score”. But there’s a good 10-30% to be observed here, which is definitely welcome for Pixel phones. All in all, good job so far, but Tensor G6 definitely has to do more!

Magic Cue is one new AI feature that seems like it’ll be a Pixel 10 exclusive. On-device AI will analyze your content continuously and cross-reference between your apps such as Calendar, Contacts, Maps, et cetera, and give you one-tap actions or replies. So, it’ll give you more accurate Quick Reply options when someone texts “Where you at? When you coming?”. If that’s too much for you — you will be able to disable Magic Cue or choose which apps it has access to.

There’s also a new feature in the Photos editor where you can basically request the AI do an edit for you, instead of tapping and swiping the screen. Like “remove glare and reflections”, and watch it happen. This is still on a slow rollout, so you may or may not have access to it.

You can now hum or sing in the Recorder app and have it compose a simple melody with instruments around it. It’s bad, so if that ends up being an exclusive Pixel 10 feature — no drama.

Camera

Three’s a crowd? We don’t mind!

The Pixel 10 is finally getting its own telephoto lens. That’s right — Google’s no longer gatekeeping zoom for the Pro.

But the sensors have now been shuffled around. The main camera has a 48 MP instead of a 50 MP sensor, there’s a 13 MP ultra-wide instead of the 48 MP on the Pixel 9. But now, a 10.5 MP telephoto with 5x optical and 20x SuperRes zoom has also been added. Give some, take some?

Pixel phones are well-known for their photo post-processing power. And now, they have AI tricks like Best Shot and Add Me, which use AI to stitch multiple photos together — if someone blinked in your best take, you can just substitute their face from another photo from the burst. If you don’t have anyone to take a photo of your group, use Add Me to substitute people within the frame. It’s all fun, and all available on both Pixel 9 and Pixel 10.

A new Camera Coach on the Pixel 10 will also help you frame a photo better, supposedly. The demo on stage looked pretty cool — the phone was giving suggestions and explaining why that would look good in a photo. Essentially, it should kind of sort of teach you a bit about photography. We’ll see how that works out and if it trickles down to the Pixel 9 via update.

The Pixel 10 pulled ahead with a few points in our camera score. While its main camera and ultrawide look almost the same — with some slight, pixel-peeped improvements — its main benefit is the new, third lens, which dramatically improves the zoom quality for base-tier Pixels.

Battery Life and Charging

Solid results to be expected

A small increase in battery capacity and a more efficient chip definitely improves the endurance for casual use. However, note that when you go into a gaming spree, that Tensor G5 becomes and energy-hungry monster, and gnaws the battery down much faster than before. So, again, Tensor G6 has some improvements to make in the future!

Audio and haptics

Google’s Pixels have a pretty good sound to them — this has held for years, minus a small mishap with the old Pixel 5. So, it’s no surprise that both the Pixel 10 and Pixel 9 sound pretty good. Maybe a bit middy, due to size limitations, but you can enjoy multimedia through both of these for sure.

Their haptics are also pretty great. Google knows this, as Android is full of little clicks and vibrations to give you a nice feedback when toggling, scrolling, tapping, and holding.

Specs Comparison

Summary

I… am… complete!

Here’s the thing — Pixel 9 was good. But it always felt like it held something back. Pixel 10? That might be the first base model that doesn’t.

You get the upgraded custom chip. The extra camera versatility. The high-refresh screen. A smarter, more cohesive on-device AI experience than ever before. And a bigger battery with Qi2 wireless charging.

If you’re on a Pixel 9 and happy? No rush to upgrade. But if you’re still holding onto a 7 or 8 — or thinking of finally ditching the Pro price tags — this might just be the one to go for.
This isn’t just another Pixel with new wallpaper, it definitely feels like it has “leveled up”.

Source Notice:

This article is republished from
www.phonearena.com
on 2025-09-18 09:57:00.
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