Hands-on with the Google Pixel 10: Seeing further

Google is playing it safe with its 10th Pixel smartphone.

It sports a very similar design to its predecessor, the Pixel 9 — so much so that side-by-side, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference. There aren’t a ton of differences on the inside either, with the Pixel 10 sporting subtle internal upgrades like a new Tensor G5 chip and support for MagSafe Pixelsnap, Google’s take on the magnetic Qi2 wireless charging standard. Most notable are the tweaks to the camera hardware, with the base-level Pixel now sporting a third camera with a telephoto lens for optical zoom.

In classic Google fashion, the Pixel 10 line sports several new software features too, like the AI-powered Magic Cue that promises to surface relevant contextual information right where you need it, or the new Camera Coach that can help non-photographers get the most out of the Pixel’s powerful cameras. The Pixel 10 line also ships with Google’s improved Material Design Expressive, making the software feel new even if it’s still just Android 16, like what’s been on the older Pixels since June.

Below I’ll get into my first impressions of the Pixel 10, but you can also find thoughts on the Pixel 10 Pro and 1o Pro XL if you want to learn more about those.

Familiar feel

My first impressions of the new Pixel 10 are generally good. The phone feels remarkably similar to the Pixel 9, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given the devices are effectively identical. The only real difference is weight, with the Pixel 10 weighing slightly more at 204g to the 9’s 198g, likely attributable to the Pixel 10’s larger 4,970mAh battery cell (the Pixel 9 was 4,700mAh). Otherwise, the phones are the same height, width, and depth (6 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches).

Moreover, Google sadly stuck with the glossy glass back and matte metal edges on the Pixel 10. I complained about this on the Pixel 9, as I found the glossy back glass to be too slippery. (Likewise, I think the glossy metal edges on the Pro line are too slippery, but at least the Pro Pixels have a matte textured on the rear glass, slightly improving the feel compared to the Pixel 10 line.) Once again, I find myself wishing Google would offer a phone with matte edges and back.

Glossy gripes aside, the Pixel 10 is still a great size. I’ve long preferred slightly smaller devices (I still have a Pixel 3 kicking around that I just hold sometimes because it’s the perfect size) but phone makers seem to constantly launch larger and larger phones. While the Pixel 10 might not be as small as the Pixel 3, it’s still a very comfortable size and as close to perfect as we’ve gotten in some time. Like with the Pixel 9 series, the Pixel 10 Pro is the exact same footprint as the Pixel 10, which makes picking between the two a matter of features and not an issue of size.

What’s new on the inside

The Pixel 10’s biggest changes are on the inside, and some of them are pretty notable. Aside from the battery upgrade, there are three major internal upgrades: the Tensor G5 chip, the telephoto camera, and Pixelsnap.

Google says the Tensor G5 brings the biggest silicon upgrade yet, boasting double-digit performance increases across compute cores and a CPU that’s on average 34 per cent faster than before. You’ll hear this a lot throughout, but on paper, it sounds like a great upgrade. I’ll need to spend a lot more time with the devices to get a sense for how meaningful an upgrade this really is. However, I have high hopes here, considering the Tensor G4 was, well, disappointing to say the least.

As for the camera, the Pixel 10 sports three cameras, a first for the base Pixel model, though it comes with some tradeoffs. First, the good: Pixel 10 users can now access 5x optical zoom and still have the main camera and ultrawide available. In my eyes, this is the most meaningful upgrade Google could have made to its base Pixel. Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate having an ultrawide camera, but given a choice, I’d take a telephoto lens over ultrawide — I find there are just so many more times I need to zoom than not. And while Google’s sensor-crop zoom on the main camera works, optical zoom is reliably better in my experience.

And yet, there are notable tradeoffs with the Pixel 10 camera system. For one, the main camera is technically a downgrade, with Google instead offering a 48-megapixel main camera instead of the 50-megapixel sensor seen on the 10 Pro models and the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro. A two megapixel difference may not seem like much, but we’ll have to get deeper into testing to say whether the sensor change significantly alters the primary camera experience.

However, the Pixel 10’s other camera hardware doesn’t measure up to the Pixel 10 Pro models either. The telephoto camera, for example, is only 10.8 megapixels instead of the 48-megapixel telephoto on the Pro phones. Similarly, the Pixel 10 sports a 13-megapixel ultrawide shooter instead of the 48-megapixel ultrawide the Pros get. Again, we’ll need to do a lot of testing to see how much of a downgrade this is, but my initial concern is that the Pixel 10 camera experience won’t measure up to previous models. At the same time, the main reason to buy a Pro Pixel has almost always been the camera, so this might further entrench that differentiator — it’s too early to say for sure.

Finally, there’s Pixelsnap, a notable addition mostly because every other Android manufacturer refuses to do it. (Hopefully, Google spurs some movement on this.) In short, Google has adopted the Qi2 wireless charging standard on the Pixel 10 line, which includes adding a ring of magnets in the rear of the phone, making it compatible with the wide range of MagSafe accessories on the market for the iPhone. While Android users have had access to MagSafe for a while, the Pixel 10 is one of the first devices to add it directly into the phone instead of forcing people to buy a MagSafe-compatible case.

This also means new accessories allowing people to take advantage, such as a new wireless charging stand from Google that includes a MagSafe Pixelsnap charging puck. Overall, it’s a good addition to the phone but I don’t have much else to say about it. As someone who typically uses a Pixel, I haven’t had much experience with MagSafe at all. Meanwhile, MobileSyrup’s Brad Bennett, who usually uses an iPhone and is deep in the MagSafe ecosystem, is more excited about the addition.

Big software promises, but will they deliver?

Finally, I got to demo some new software features during my hands-on time with the Pixel 10, though I haven’t had time to test these out thoroughly to see how well they work outside of the demo environment. (In other words, you’ll have to wait for the full review to learn if these features deliver.) However, my initial thoughts are that these features are potentially really great if they work as well as Google claims.

First up is Magic Cue, a new AI-powered feature that works on-device with Gemini Nano to deliver relevant contextual information when and where you need it. In demos Google showed me, Magic Cue worked in apps like Google Messages and the Phone app to surface relevant information. In one demo of a text conversation, someone texted the demoer asking for their friend Ben’s phone number. Magic Cue automatically surfaced Ben’s phone number from the Contacts app and put it in a bubble that the demoer could tap to insert the number into a text. The bubbles appear just above the reply box alongside other suggested responses, but are differentiated by a rainbow glow.

In Google’s demos, Magic Cue was able to surface contextually relevant information from various places, such as pulling concert information from the tickets in someone’s Gmail account to their availability based on what’s in their calendar. It was also able to surface the phone number for United, which when tapped, took the demoer to the Phone app and inserted the number so they could call the airline. When the call was placed, Magic Cue surfaced information about the demoer’s upcoming United flight right in the Phone app so they could reference the details while speaking to the airline.

While the feature does raise some privacy concerns, Google stressed to me that it runs entirely on device using information that’s available on-device. Magic Cue seems focused squarely on sharing information between apps in a way that’s helpful contextually to save users from jumping around different apps. It seems like it will be really helpful, but I’ll need to spend much more time with it before I can say for sure.

Another interesting software feature Google demoed was the Camera Coach, which is an automated assistant that can guide people through using the Pixel’s camera. It goes beyond just telling people how to use certain features — it can also coach users on how to position the phone and frame their photos for the best results. It was surprisingly in-depth with step-by-step directions. While I’m not sure the feature would do much for me, it does seem like it’d be really helpful for those who aren’t photographers or maybe don’t have a great handle on all the features of the Pixel camera.

Pixel 10 pricing

The Pixel 10 starts at $1,099 for the 128GB model, the same as last year’s Pixel 9. The 256GB variant costs $1,229. The Pixel 10 comes in four colours: Obsidian, Frost, and two returning shades: Lemongrass from the Pixel 7 and Indigo from the original Pixel. It and the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL will be available in stores and online starting August 28.