The Pixel 10 Pro appeals to me less, but that's exactly what Google got right

The Google Pixel 10 Pro and Google Pixel 10 Pro resemble their Pixel 9 predecessors, but under the hood, they feature a sweeping series of changes that make them a significant upgrade.

The pair features Google's first Tensor chip that Samsung hasn't made, and they're the first major Android phones with Qi2. They have great new camera and software features, a few forgettable ones, and even some that are flat-out bad at times. And while the Pixel 10 Pro is still a great choice for its size, the enhanced battery capabilities of the Pixel 10 Pro XL make it the recommended choice this time around.

Google Pixel 10 Pro, Pro XL: Price and availability

The Google Pixel 10 Pro and Google Pixel 10 Pro XL begin open sales on August 28, 2005. The Pixel 10 Pro starts at $999 for 128GB of storage, and the Pixel 10 Pro XL starts at $1,199 with 256GB of storage. Both models can be configured for up to 1TB of storage.

U.S. models of the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL only support dual eSIM compatibility, whereas most global models feature one eSIM and one physical SIM tray. The entire Pixel 10 lineup is available in 32 countries and in four lovely colors.

Google Pixel 10 Pro, Pro XL: Specs

Google Pixel 10 Pro, Pro XL: Hardware and display

• Nearly identical to the Pixel 9 but with no SIM tray in the U.S.
• Pixelsnap is genius. Qi2 charging and official support for MagSafe products.
• The display is brighter, but the new PWM-sensitive mode doesn't do enough to help.

If you've seen a Pixel 9, you've seen a Pixel 10. U.S. models have no physical SIM tray and no longer have a mmWave "pill," but I find this minor physical change is not worth the loss of a physical SIM tray. While eSIM may be fine for some people, I have no interest in switching away from a physical SIM card.

But that's the only real problem with the updated design, and one that many people may be able to overlook. The new Pixelsnap magnetic system makes these phones officially compatible with the best MagSafe accessories without the need for a case. It's elegant, brilliant, and has been a long time coming.

As always, haptics on the Pixel 10 Pro series are the best in the business. Only the OnePlus 13 matches their quality. Google also improved the speakers in the Pixel 10 Pro and XL, and they're the best speakers I've heard on a phone that's sold in a U.S. carrier store.

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The Pixel 10 Pro/XL's display reaches 3,300 nits in HDR content. It's ridiculously easy to see outside, and most people will find this to be a lovely-looking panel.

But if you're someone like me who is PWM-sensitive, you'll want to look elsewhere. The new "sensitive eyes" accessibility setting doesn't do enough to mitigate the harsh flickering that Pixel displays have. At 480Hz, the Pixel 10 Pro family's PWM rate pales in comparison to the 2160Hz of the OnePlus 13 or the 4320Hz rate of the Honor Magic 7 Pro.

Google Pixel 10 Pro, Pro XL: Battery and performance

• Tensor G5 is much faster than G4 but is missing updated Vulkan support.
• Pixel 10 Pro XL lasts 90 minutes longer than the Pixel 9 Pro XL
• Pixel 10 Pro only lasts about 20 minutes longer than the Pixel 9 Pro.
• Google will throttle the battery after 200 charging cycles.

The new Tensor G5 improves Tensor's infamous slow nature — especially if you enjoy mobile gaming — but it still struggles to compete with the best smartphones of 2024, let alone those of 2025. Upcoming phones like the OnePlus 15 have even faster processors.

While today's performance is more than acceptable, I'm worried about the phone's longevity. It's half the speed (or less) of the Snapdragon 8 Elite in many benchmarks. Thankfully, it still runs Minecraft and Genshin Impact at 60FPS. The Pixel 9 Pro struggled to run those games at 40FPS.

Google switched SoC manufacturers to TSMC and switched the GPU to PowerVR, but this also came with a notable downside: a lack of support for the latest version of Vulkan. That's particularly ironic since Google just made Vulkan the default standard in Android 16. The company states that the latest Vulkan version will be supported in a future update; however, some features and apps are currently not running properly.

Google says it has upgraded the Pixel 10 Pro XL's charging speed slightly, but it's barely worth mentioning. At best, it charges 4W faster than the Pixel 9 Pro XL in my testing. The Pixel 10 Pro capped out at 25W wired charging, while the 10 Pro XL charged at up to 38W. Compared to phones like the OnePlus 13, this thing takes an eternity to charge.

The new Pixelsnap Charger supports the new Qi2.2 standard on the Pixel 10 Pro XL only, enabling 25W wireless charging. It's the first phone to support the standard, and it even capped out at 28.3W, according to my measurement devices. Again, not as fast as proprietary OnePlus 50W wireless charging, but standards and magnets are a better choice, anyway.

But the new forced Battery Health Assistance "feature" begins limiting your charging speed and capacity at just 200 cycles. That means your battery will have a forced lower capacity in roughly a year of usage. Google states that it caps this limitation at 80% and that it'll take approximately 1,000 cycles for that to occur, but I still prefer not to be forced to accept artificial degradation.

The Pixel 10 Pro's battery life has seen meager improvements, at best — 20 minutes or so longer than the Pixel 9 Pro, in our testing. However, the Pixel 10 Pro XL lasts around 90 minutes longer per charge than the Pixel 9 Pro XL, which, when combined with the significantly faster processor and charging speed, makes it the better buy this year.

Google Pixel 10 Pro, Pro XL: Software and AI

• A dozen new features, most are Pixel exclusive.
• The highlights are Magic Cue, Voice Translate for calls, Edit with Ask Photos, new Material 3 themes, and customization options.
• Pixel Journal and Daily Hub are forgettable.

This year is one of the most jam-packed feature releases I can remember for a Pixel. In total, we're looking at over a dozen new features, even excluding existing feature updates or new camera features from the count:

• Magic Cue
• Voice translate for calls
• Take a Message
• Daily Hub
• Pixel Journal
• Edit with Ask Photos
• Create music in Recorder
• NotebookLM integration with Recorder
• Smart Edit and writing tools in Gboard
• Material 3 UI changes
• New lockscreen customization options
• Gemini Live visual overlays

Of all of them, Magic Cue is my favorite. It's a feature that takes a few days to kick in, but when it does, it's worth the wait. Magic Cue is essentially a superpowered version of that nifty feature that gives you automatic replies to messages.

If someone mentions an event in a message, a new "chip" button will appear at the bottom of the screen that automatically adds it to your calendar. Emails related to phone calls will appear in the dialer, like doctor's appointment reminders or airline details. It even stealth powers some of the other new features, like Daily Hub.

Voice Translate real-time translates your voice into another language while on a call. It's a fairly convincing version of your voice, too, and while I've heard some people say the translation is a little bit funny, it's still an impressive upgrade over previous real-time text translation features.

You can now ask Gemini to edit a photo in Google Photos, including commands like removing glare, making it less blurry, enhancing a pet portrait, and more. While you can't be too specific — something like "brighten up the cat in this photo" doesn't work — there are a decent number of natural language commands present.

I also loved all the new Material 3 UI changes, like the denser, customizable quick toggles and the new lockscreen customization options that feel lively and fun. Plus, tons of great new animations and haptic moments make the phone feel special.

Google Pixel 10 Pro, Pro XL: Cameras

• Pro Res Zoom upgrades the maximum zoom level to 100x, but the results are often marred by hallucinating AI that overconfidently estimates its capabilities.
• Camera Coach and Auto Best Take are excellent additions that people will love.
• Portrait mode is finally good again.

Pixels are known for having great photography capabilities and tons of AI tricks, particularly over the past few years, and the Pixel 10 is no exception.

Camera Coach is a wonderful new addition that will be particularly helpful for budding photographers. The feature utilizes AI to analyze a scene, provide shot suggestions, and then guide you through the step-by-step process of taking the shot. It's an excellent example of how AI can help you achieve a goal without doing the work for you.

Auto Best Take is another standout feature and an upgrade of an old favorite. As you line up group photos, identified faces will be highlighted in white, then that frame will switch to gold once a "best face" has been identified. No more need to manually select it, although you can still do this if you wish.

All of the new features can be easily turned off if you don't like them. Features like Pro Res Zoom offer a before-and-after picture at all times, so even if you don't like the result the phone makes for you, you can always choose the original with a quick tap.

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That's a very good thing because when Pro Res Zoom screws up, it does so spectacularly. A prime example of this is any time text appears in an image. The AI clearly has no understanding of what text actually is, but it doesn't care at all. All text seems to automatically get a massive clarity enhancement, and none of it is ever readable.

This level of overconfident hallucination also presents itself in certain textures, such as the gargoyle statue in the samples above. The OnePlus 13's gentler approach looked more realistic, while Honor and Google's results were pure hallucination, even if the texture the Pixel 10 added to the gargoyle is convincing.

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I also found zoom shots between the 10-30x mark to be underwhelming, often exhibiting blurring. The Galaxy S25 Ultra usually outperformed the Pixel 10 Pro/XL in my tests, and the Honor Magic 7 Pro's AI-powered zoom function was also consistently better.

But the rest of the camera experience was largely excellent. Google finally fixed its genuinely terrible portrait mode in this release. The blurring around hair and complex objects looked excellent most of the time, something I don't think I've ever said about a Pixel's portrait mode in the past.

Google Pixel 10 Pro, Pro XL: Competition

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and OnePlus 13 both offer at least double the computing power of the Pixel 10 Pro series. The S25 Ultra throttles harder than the Pixel 10 Pro series, but even with throttling, it's faster than Google's phones could dream of being. Within four to five years, you will notice this in everyday apps.

Google has improved its displays again this year and even offers a new Sensitive Eyes accessibility option that doubles the PWM rate. However, the new setting still falls short in comparison to most Android phones for individuals sensitive to LED flickering. Consider the Honor Magic 7 Pro or OnePlus 13 instead.

Google Pixel 10 Pro, Pro XL: Should you buy it?

You should buy if...

• You're all-in on the Google ecosystem and want the best of Google.
• You want a phone with excellent haptics, superb speakers, an ultra-bright display, and a great overall camera.
• You're looking for a phone with great support, especially with the new Pixel Care+ program.

You should not buy if...

• You're a power user and expect to have tip-top performance.
• You want to hold on to this phone for seven full years. I don't think performance is good enough.
• You need a display that's easy on your eyes.

Google is getting better at this "making a phone" thing, and it shows with the Pixel 10 Pro series. Some questionable decisions, such as eSIM-only and forced battery capacity throttling, are unsettling, but they're juxtaposed by a brilliant new Pixelsnap magnetic system and a Tensor processor that finally isn't terrible.

The Pixel 10 Pro's telephoto performance is underwhelming compared to the competition, but it will take excellent pictures of your kids and pets, which is probably something people care more about, anyway.

It's a release that feels more iPhone than ever in many ways, helping to further appeal to users who are considering switching. Google continues to develop the Pixel's personality as the phone that does it all for you, and this release solidifies that, for better or worse.