Pixel 10 Review: Same Pixel, Good and Bad

TL;DR

The Pixel 10 keeps every Pixel strength and every Pixel weakness. Design, materials and character carry over from the Pixel 9, while charging speed, camera sensors and display specs stay off the bleeding edge. The genuine wins are a full triple camera on the base phone, an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, Qi2 Pixel Snap magnets, and a Google-designed Tensor G5 built by TSMC.

Transcript

(relaxing dance music) - All right, I have good news and bad news. What do you want first? The good news, great. Good call. It's still a Pixel. The bad news? It is still a Pixel. (lively dance music) See, the Pixel 10 has had some high hopes and some hype behind it for the past couple months. You know, it's the 10th generation. It could be special.... Read More

Key Insights

• The Pixel 10 is best described as still a Pixel, which is simultaneously the good news and the bad news. It keeps the design, software and character people liked, and it also keeps the hardware gaps people complained about in earlier generations.
• Tensor G5 is the first totally Google-designed Tensor chip, built on a three-nanometer process and manufactured directly by TSMC. Earlier Tensor chips were co-designed with Samsung, heavily based on an Exynos chip, and fabricated by Samsung.
• The Tensor G5 CPU is about 30 percent better than last generation but benchmarks closer to a mid-range part, near the 8S Gen 4 found in the Nothing Phone 3, and remains a solid amount behind the Snapdragon chips used in Samsung phones.
• The GPU is the weakest area of the Tensor G5. Geekbench 6 OpenCL scores come in at literally half of the Pixel 9 result and roughly 600 percent behind the Snapdragon 8 Elite, and the chip also lacks hardware-accelerated ray tracing.
• The TPU is where Tensor G5 is strongest, at 60 percent more powerful than last generation. That is intentional: Google is prioritizing on-device machine learning tasks such as running models and editing photos over raw CPU and GPU leadership.
• Pixel Snap brings Qi2 wireless charging at 15 watts, or 25 watts on the XL, letting the phone attach directly to existing MagSafe accessories. The speed did not improve, but the magnets add car mounts, self-aligning desk chargers and power banks.
• The base Pixel 10 gains a full triple camera setup, the single most substantial addition to the lineup. Other changes are subtle: an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, a brighter display, color-matched speaker grills, and batteries about 200 milliamp hours larger.
• US Pixel 10 models are eSIM only, with the physical SIM card tray completely removed. For someone who swaps a SIM between test phones in about 10 seconds this is a real loss, and the framing given is that only the carriers win from the change.

Questions & Answers

Q: Is the Pixel 10 a big upgrade over the Pixel 9?

No. The Pixel 10 is very similar to last year in design, materials and character, including the camera visor, the glossy glass back with satin aluminum sides, and the reverse arrangement on the Pro models. A Pixel 9 could easily be mistaken for the new one unless you know exactly which one is the new gray color. The upgrades are subtle rather than transformative: a full triple camera on the base phone, an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, a slightly brighter display, better speakers with color-matched grills, and batteries about 200 milliamp hours larger.

Q: How fast is the Tensor G5 chip in the Pixel 10?

The Tensor G5 is a good chip but not a miraculous leap. The CPU is about 30 percent better than last generation, yet it benchmarks like a mid-range phone and stays a solid amount behind the Snapdragon chips in Samsung phones, landing closer to the 8S Gen 4 used in the Nothing Phone 3. The GPU gap is even larger: Geekbench 6 OpenCL scores are literally half of the Pixel 9 and roughly 600 percent behind the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The TPU is the standout at 60 percent more powerful than last generation.

Q: Who actually makes the Tensor G5 chip?

The Tensor G5 is the first totally Google-designed Tensor chip, built on a three-nanometer process and manufactured directly by TSMC. This is a break from earlier Tensor generations, which were co-designed by Google and Samsung, heavily based on an Exynos chip, and fabricated by Samsung. Before Tensor started with the Pixel 6, Google phones used off-the-shelf Qualcomm chips for years. The first Tensor chip was so weak that it had people questioning whether Google should have left Qualcomm at all.

Q: What is Pixel Snap on the Pixel 10?

Pixel Snap is the Qi2 magnetic wireless charging system on the Pixel 10, running at 15 watts on the standard models and 25 watts on the XL. It lets the phone attach directly to existing MagSafe accessories: a car dash mount for navigation in the morning, a desk wireless charger where the phone automatically aligns, or a power bank on a long travel trip. It does not make wireless charging faster, but it opens up a large world of magnetic accessories and is called a genuine quality of life improvement.

Q: Does the Pixel 10 have a physical SIM card slot?

No. In the US the Pixel 10 is eSIM only and the physical SIM card tray is completely gone. The objection raised is not to eSIM support itself, which is described as great, but to being forced to use it, with the conclusion that only the carriers win from the change. The frustration is framed as possibly over-indexed because a reviewer swaps a physical SIM between many phones, a process that takes about 10 seconds, but it remains a downside for anyone who moves cards between devices.

Q: How is the Pixel 10 battery life and everyday performance?

Battery life is described as solid. Testing was mostly on the Pixel 10 Pro rather than the XL, and even on the regular-sized phone the result was all-day battery, near dead by the end of the day, with about six hours of screen-on time at high brightness. Everyday performance is smooth: navigating Android 16, multitasking and moving through apps stays fluid with high refresh rate always on. Switching the display setting from High resolution to Max resolution sharpened the image but introduced a few barely noticeable dropped frames.

Q: Is the Pixel 10 good for gaming?

Gaming is not this phone's strength. The GPU is the weakest part of the Tensor G5, with Geekbench 6 OpenCL scores at literally half of the Pixel 9 and roughly 600 percent behind the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The phone also lacks hardware-accelerated ray tracing. It would not be surprising if head-to-head frame rate measurements in graphically intense games showed the Pixel 10 falling far behind phones with more powerful GPUs. This has never been the Pixel's focus, and it is not expected to become one.

Q: What software does the Pixel 10 ship with?

All Pixel 10 models ship with Android 16 out of the box, including the Material 3 Expressive updates: smart wallpaper cutout effects, animations, haptics, and notification jiggle physics. Software remains one of the two things that make a Pixel a Pixel, alongside the cameras, and it is called awesome overall, colorful, clean and fluid, with a lot of flexibility to tweak things like quick settings and widget-heavy home screens. The main criticism is that some buttons have become massive, leaving large dead white space in the Weather, Phone, Gmail and stopwatch interfaces.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The Pixel 10 arrived with hype around being the 10th generation, the first with a TSMC chip, and a launch alongside Android 16, plus a mainstream marketing push including a Jimmy Fallon presentation and a Jonas Brothers music video. The result is not a reboot: it is the same set of Pixel likes and dislikes.

• Design and materials are close to last year: the camera visor, glossy glass back with satin aluminum sides, and the reverse arrangement on the Pro phones. A Pixel 9 could be mistaken for the new one unless you know the new gray color. Buttons are clicky and haptics are good.

• Whats new is mostly subtle: triple cameras on the base phone, an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, a brighter display, color-matched speaker grills, batteries about 200 milliamp hours larger, and eSIM only in the US with the physical SIM tray gone. Bezels did not get thinner.

• Tensor G5 is the first fully Google-designed Tensor, on a three-nanometer process and manufactured by TSMC. CPU is about 30 percent better than last generation but still behind Snapdragon chips in Samsung phones, closer to the 8S Gen 4. The TPU is 60 percent more powerful, which is the intentional focus.

• Pixel Snap adds Qi2 wireless charging at 15 watts, or 25 on the XL, so the phone attaches to existing MagSafe accessories such as car dash mounts, desk chargers that self-align, and power banks. The magnets feel slightly stronger than MagSafe on the iPhone with first-party Google accessories.

• Software remains a Pixel strength. The phones ship with Android 16 and Material 3 Expressive updates: smart wallpaper cutout effects, animations, haptics and notification jiggle physics. The complaint is oversized buttons and dead white space in the Weather, Phone, Gmail and stopwatch interfaces.