Google Pixel 10 review: A blend of familiar design and meaningful upgrades

With Pixel 10, Google has kept the familiar design, while adding meaningful upgrades such as a telephoto sensor for optical zoom, new AI features, and support for Qi2-based wireless charging

The Pixel 10 continues Google’s tradition of refined evolution rather than dramatic reinvention. On paper, it keeps the familiar design of its predecessor while adding a third telephoto camera on the rear, alongside incremental upgrades to the display, battery, and software. Powered by the latest hardware and loaded with new AI-driven features like Camera Coach and Pixel Journal, the Pixel 10 promises a smarter, more capable day-to-day experience. Does it deliver? Here’s what I found out:

Design

At first glance, the Pixel 10 doesn’t look all that different from last year’s Pixel 9. The familiar glass-and-aluminium build returns, along with the same camera bar that spans across the back. The only visual change is the addition of a third camera sensor, neatly slotted into the same bar without altering its size. This keeps the design instantly recognisable while giving it a slightly different look than the last year’s model. I also had a few people coming up and asking if it was the Pro model, likely due to the triple camera setup.

The phone feels compact and well-balanced in the hand, with weight distributed evenly so it never feels unwieldy. The glossy glass finish on the back certainly adds a premium shine but also tends to pick up smudges and dust rather quickly. You’ll find yourself wiping it down fairly often to keep it looking clean.

 

Google says it has used “spacecraft-grade aluminium” for the frame this time. While in the hand it feels almost identical to last year’s Pixel 9, the claim may translate into better durability in the long run, especially in drop scenarios. That said, even the Pixel 9 handled falls quite well during my testing, so any improvement here may not be immediately noticeable in day-to-day use. The frame still feels reassuringly solid, and the tactile feedback from the buttons along with the sharp haptics add to the premium impression.

 

In terms of durability, the Pixel 10 comes with an IP68 rating, which means it can withstand dust and splashes. During testing in monsoon showers, the phone remained fully functional, but touch response did become a little inconsistent with raindrops on the screen. While still usable, it wasn’t as precise as I would have liked, and some rivals have managed to handle wet conditions slightly better.

 

Both the front and back are protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2, the same as the Pixel 9 I reviewed last year. However, the Pixel 10’s display did pick up a few faint scratches when used without a case. Interestingly, the back glass showed no such wear and still looked pristine. It doesn’t feel fragile by any means, but it’s clear the display glass is a bit more susceptible to minor scuffs with daily use.

Display and Audio

The Pixel 10 features a 6.3-inch OLED panel of a 60–120Hz adaptive refresh rate. It is the same size as the Pixel 9, but Google has cranked up the peak brightness from 2,700 nits to 3,000 nits. The display is sharp and vibrant, with excellent colour reproduction that makes everything from photos to movies look lively. HDR content, in particular, stands out with deep blacks and a good level of brightness that ensures highlights don’t get lost.

 

Outdoor visibility is impressive as well. The panel easily gets bright enough to remain legible even under harsh sunlight, which is useful during day-to-day use. Indoors, I rarely felt the need to crank the brightness to maximum. The adaptive refresh rate also does its job seamlessly, dropping down when you’re just reading or idling to save battery, and instantly ramping up when scrolling or gaming.

 

The panel also supports always-on display mode and Google’s At a Glance widget, which remain practical for checking notifications, time, or calendar events without fully waking the phone. The touch response is quick and accurate, and I didn’t face any delays or mis-reads while swiping around or typing.

 

Audio is handled by a stereo speaker setup, with a speaker vents at the bottom and the other integrated into the earpiece. The output is clear and reasonably loud, more than enough for casual listening or watching videos without headphones. Vocals are clear, and there’s a decent amount of depth to the sound, though like most smartphones, it can’t quite deliver powerful bass. Still, for video calls, streaming, and podcasts, the experience is very satisfying. Pairing with good wireless earbuds does, of course, elevate the listening experience significantly.

Camera

Google has reconfigured the Pixel 10’s camera hardware this year, and the headline change is a proper telephoto lens: the phone sports a 48MP main sensor, a 13MP ultra-wide and a 10.8MP telephoto that offers 5x optical reach. The front camera remains a 10.5MP camera. Those are the numbers on paper – here’s how they translate into everyday photos and videos.

 

The main camera is the workhorse you’ll reach for most of the time. It produces reliably well-exposed images with natural colours and a pleasingly restrained look straight out of the phone. Google’s processing keeps highlights in check while retaining usable shadow detail, so photos rarely feel overcooked. In good light the results are sharp and dependable; in mixed or dimmer lighting you will notice the smaller sensor’s limits as a little more noise and occasional softness compared with bigger-sensor phones, but the results are still practical and usable for most snapshots.

The ultra-wide captures a genuinely wide field of view and generally matches the main camera in colour tone, which makes switching between lenses feel consistent. It is not a fine-detail camera — close shots lose resolution and it can’t focus as close as some other wide lenses — but for landscapes, architecture or group shots it does the job. Edge distortion is mostly controlled, though there are times where the far edges will show mild warping if you’re shooting busy scenes.

 

The most significant addition this year is the 5x telephoto. In daylight this lens adds a fun and useful layer of framing options: subjects at a distance come in with much more detail than digital crops, and you can pull off portrait styles at focal lengths you simply couldn’t before. Colour and exposure match the main camera quite well, so composite shots don’t look jarringly different. At long ranges the phone’s Super Res Zoom (up to 20x) still helps, and in bright outdoors you can get surprisingly usable 10x crops. That said, the telephoto’s small sensor becomes obvious in low light — zoomed night shots turn soft and lack micro-detail, and light sources can clip more aggressively than on the main lens.

 

Portraits are pleasant overall, with good subject separation and natural skin tones most of the time. Edge detection is usually competent, but it can wobble on hair or busy edges, and sometimes the texture rendering leans a little too smooth or artificial when the software tries to compensate for low light. Selfies are generally solid: the front camera nails exposure and skin tone in daylight and holds up reasonably well indoors.

 

On video the Pixel 10 supports 4K at 60fps from both front and back, and stabilisation is consistently effective. Footage is colour-accurate and well balanced. The smartphone also handles motion and contrast nicely. When you are zooming in, though, footage can show a touch of wobble and jitter despite the stabilisation doing its job, so handheld telephoto clips work best with cautious movements or a bit of support.

 

Google’s computational helpers — things like Camera Coach and the various AI editing tools — are still useful additions. Camera Coach gives nudges that are genuinely handy for less experienced shooters (suggesting you move closer, change framing, or adjust angle), while the in-phone editing tools let you clean up shots quickly without jumping to a desktop app.

Performance

The Pixel 10 runs on Google’s Tensor G5 paired with 12GB of RAM, and in day-to-day use it feels consistently quick. Swapping between chat apps, Maps, a pile of Chrome tabs, the camera, and music in the background doesn’t cause it to struggle. Animations stay smooth, and apps remain in memory long enough that hopping back into a half-written note or draft email is instant.

 

Gaming is fine for casual and mid-weight titles. Arcade racers, puzzlers, and popular shooters run well at sensible settings. Push graphics too high in heavier games such as Genshin Impact and you’ll want to dial graphic settings back a notch to keep frame pacing steady. After longer sessions (or extended camera use), the back does warm up—most noticeably around the camera bar—but it never felt uncomfortably warm.

 

AI-assisted features that run on-device (transcriptions, quick image clean-ups, and voice tasks) kick in promptly and don’t bog the phone down while you’re multitasking. Memory management feels conservative but smart: background apps don’t reload aggressively, and I rarely saw apps close behind me unless I’d been hopping around for a long stretch.

 

Overall, the Pixel 10 doesn’t chase headline numbers. It focuses on consistent, reliable performance. In real-world use, that translates to a phone that stays smooth, juggles your usual workload without drama, and only asks for small compromises during longer gaming sessions. 

Software

The Pixel 10 comes with Android 16, layered with Google’s Pixel UI. Day-to-day, it offers a clean and minimal Android experience, with a handful of exclusive Pixel touches on top. Google’s updated Material 3 Expressive design language runs throughout the system, most noticeably in the translucent quick settings panel and a reorganised settings app where each option sits inside its own pill-shaped tile. The lockscreen also gains extra customisation options, and fresh icon shapes appear across different menus, giving the interface a more fluid look.

 

As expected, AI plays a central role in this year’s software. The phone runs an improved Gemini Nano model locally, with Gemini Live now including visual overlays, and Pixel Studio gaining support for Imagen 4. Among the new apps, Pixel Journal stands out — it’s meant to help users jot down ideas or reflections, with AI suggestions that can nudge you toward capturing your thoughts more clearly.

 

In the camera app, a new tool called Camera Coach provides basic framing tips to help users compose better shots. While useful, it still feels a bit limited since the advice doesn’t update dynamically if the subject shifts position; it only reacts to the initial frame when triggered. Meanwhile, the “Help me edit” voice-powered photo editing tool in Google Photos hasn’t rolled out in India yet, which is a bit disappointing.

 

Another headline addition is Magic Cue. It’s supposed to intelligently scan data within apps and surface relevant details when needed — like automatically pulling up a flight itinerary if someone emails you about travel plans. In my use, however, the feature never worked as expected, even in scenarios where I expected it to.

Battery and charging

The Pixel 10 packs a 4,970mAh battery, and in everyday use that capacity translates to reliable, all-day endurance. With a mix of email and messaging, scrolling through social apps, an hour or two of video streaming, a few short calls and some camera use, I regularly finished the day with a decent buffer — enough to get me into the next morning with light use. Push it harder with long navigation, lots of gaming or extended 4K video capture and the drain becomes obvious, but that’s true of most phones in this class.

 

Charging is handled via a 30W wired profile, and Google also supports magnetic Qi2 charging (Pixelsnap) at up to 15W. In practice the wired experience is useful for quick top-ups: expect roughly an hour-plus to go from about 10 per cent to full.

Verdict

The Pixel 10 feels like a careful evolution rather than a radical overhaul. Google retains the familiar design, adds an extra telephoto sensor to the camera setup, and introduces incremental upgrades to the display, software, and battery. Daily performance remains smooth, and the AI-driven features—though not fully rolled out—offer tangible benefits, particularly tools like Camera Coach and Pixel Journal, even if they still need some fine-tuning.

 

Battery life is dependable, charging speeds are decent if not exceptionally fast, and the display—shielded by Gorilla Glass Victus 2—holds up well, though it can pick up light scratches when used without a case. Water resistance performs adequately in light rain, although touch responsiveness may become slightly less precise.

 

Overall, the Pixel 10 doesn’t bring revolutionary changes, but it refines the Pixel experience. It presents a solid upgrade for existing Pixel users or a compelling choice for anyone considering their first Android device.

• Price: Rs 79,999

Pixel 10: Hands-on