Google Pixel 10 Pro review

Android from the source - feels like no other

The Pixel 10 series run Android with Google's own take on visuals and user experience - gone are the days when a Pixel meant a barebones software package and a bland interface. The OS version is 16 and the company promises 7 years of full software support.

Design and usability-wise, there are no major changes on Android 16. If you've used Pixels in the past, your experience with the OS will feel familiar. Pretty much all novelties are AI-related for yet another year.

Android 16 on the Pixel 10 Pro: Home screen • Recent apps • App drawer

Still, the new OS comes with Material 3 Expressive UI that offers more dynamic and fluid animations - some extra glitz, if you will.

The Notification shade now provides real-time updates on things like food delivery or ride status. The system also groups notifications more easily to de-clutter your notification shade.

Android 16 on the Pixel 10 Pro: Notification shade • Quick toggles • Settings menu

Pixels have been pioneering AI features for some years now, and the latest Magic Cue is among the most useful ones so far. Google's AI tracks your information across apps and connects the dots to provide relevant information no matter which app you are using. It's something like Samsung's Now Brief, but instead of just providing contextual information, it offers you to take action.

For instance, Magic Cue should be able to pull up flight data while you are on a call with the airline, or it will offer to send the photos your friend requested from last weekend over chat. It collects information from various apps like Calendar, Photos, chat apps, etc.

Gemini Live is worth mentioning as one of the latest updates to Google's AI assistant. It's got the ability to understand what's on your camera feed and provide visual guidance. It can even highlight objects and provide contextual info. The speech model has been enhanced as well with more expressive audio.

A new AI editing tool built into the Google Photos app allows you to "vibe edit", similar to "vibe coding". Simply describe what you want to edit or remove from the photo, and the AI will handle the rest. However, this feature is currently limited to the US only.

There is also a Camera Coach feature, powered by Gemini, for people who are apparently so bad at taking pictures that they need AI to guide them. You can just point your phone at the subject and fire up the feature, and it will give step-by-step instructions on how to frame your shot. It doesn't actually know when you've done what it asked you to do based on the viewfinder information, so you just have to assume you're doing the right thing and go with the instructions.

Camera Coach

The new bits join the existing list of Pixel-exclusive features, such as Pixel Call Assist, which includes Call Screen, Hold For Me, and Direct My Calls, Add Me in the Camera app, Magic Eraser, Video Boost, and more. Google also keeps adding more features with its Pixel Drop updates, so the list will only keep growing.

What's a bit harder to convey is the experience of using the Pixel software - it remains clean, concise, and effortless, despite the new design flourishes. Even basic things like the size and spacing of menus, toast notifications, fonts, etc., feel correct (subjective as it is) - in ways that no other maker quite manages to match. This is still a key selling point of the Google phones, at a time when that list is thinning.

Performance and benchmarks

The Pixel 10 series continues to use an in-house-designed chipset, only this year's Tensor G5 is manufactured by TSMC and not Samsung. As is the norm, the company doesn't brag too much about raw performance gains, but it has been mentioned that the new CPU is 34% faster than that in the Tensor G4.

The CPU inside the Tensor G5 is made up of 8 cores which Google itself doesn't explicitly list, but hardware scanning apps report those as 1x3.78GHz + 5x3.05GHz + 2x2.25GHz. Independent sources claim those are 1x Cortex-X4 + 5x Cortex-A725 + 2x Cortex-A520 cores.

The GPU is PowerVR DXT-48-1536 - it does have quite a nice ring to it.

Memory configurations are a bit of a controversial topic in that everyone that's not Google agrees that the 128GB base version (as reviewed) shouldn't exist, but Google has kept it in the lineup. It's pretty hard to swallow a 128GB base tier Pixel 10, but a UFS 3.1 128GB Pixel 10 Pro is almost offensive.

The other versions (256GB, 512GB, and 1TB) use faster UFS 4.0 chips too, and 256GB feels like the reasonable number for an entry-level Pro in 2025. Or 2024. Sure, both the Galaxy S25 and the iPhone 16 Pro start at 128GB, but that does not mean it makes sense.

Anyways, RAM is 16GB on all Pixel 10 Pros.

Now, Google does tend to emphasize the "user experience" instead of benchmark performance. This is evident by the company's focus to improve the G5 in other areas like AI - the chip boasts a 60% more powerful TPU, making it the first one capable of running Gemini Nano fully on-device.

Camera performance should also benefit from the new and improved ISP, supporting high-end features like motion deblur and 10-bit video recording by default in both 1080p and 4K.

Regardless of Google's inclinations, it's benchmarks that this section is for, and the Pixel 10 Pro does pretty poorly in that respect. Dimensity 9400 and Snapdragon 8 Elite handsets outperform the Pixel by roughly 30% in single-core CPU tasks and up to 50% in multi-core loads. The GPU is about half as potent as the ones in rival handsets. The Antutu score is particularly bad too. Not a great look.

We'll say it again that the Pixels feel smooth and snappy and fluid in ways that are difficult to put into numbers or even convey with words (like smooth, snappy, and fluid). There's an unquantifiable appeal to interacting with the phone's UI, but we can't help but wonder if raw performance absolutely must suffer for it, particularly when battery life isn't remotely good either.

Performance stability under stress

Updated, 28 Oct: We've updated the analysis of the thermal performance of the Google Pixel 10 Pro after some further retesting. Our new tests show positive development with far less throttling - possibly due to some newly introduced software changes by Google. The screenshots below reflect our latest test findings.

The Pixel 10 Pro did quite all right in our regular CPU Throttling test. It only took about 5 minutes to drop below 70% of its initial result, but overall, it never fell below 64% of its max performance.

In the 3DMark Wild Life stress test, the Pixel recorded a 70+ percent stability rating, which is quite good. Technically, other 2025 flagships are also in that ballpark for stability, only the level they drop to is the level the Pixel starts out at.

CPU Throttling test • 3DMark Wild Life Extreme stress test

The phone does heat up significantly, but it's mostly along the frame and even then, it's not the worst offender in this respect.