I'm Stoked That Google Made the Pixel 10 a $799 Value-Packed Feature Monster

The Pixel 10 has arrived. It has a bigger battery, support for faster charging, new AI-powered tools and new cameras including one with a 5x telephoto lens (the first on a non-Pro Pixel phone). After years of Google raising the price on its standard Pixel phone, it's nice to see the company pack the Pixel 10 with features while keeping the starting price at $799, the same as last year's Pixel 9.

The Pixel 10, announced at the Made by Google event, builds on last year's excellent Pixel 9 design by adding new tools, like an Gemini AI-powered Camera Coach, and expanding existing ones, like raising the maximum brightness of the 6.3-inch screen to 3,000 nits. 

But something is different about the Pixel 10.

Instead of being a scaled down version of a Pixel Pro that costs $200 less, like the Pixel 9, the Pixel 10 is a hybrid of Google's Pro line and budget series. It has a similar body and design as the $999 Pixel 10 Pro but the same main and ultrawide cameras as the $499 Pixel 9A. I think it's smart for Google to push the Pixel 10 closer to the Pixel 9A to help differentiate it from the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL. But I will miss having those Pro cameras.

The Pixel 10 is available to preorder starting today and will be in stores starting Aug. 28.

Don't miss any of CNET's unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome.

Watch this: Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL First Look: Familiar Design, New AI Tricks

08:04

Pixel 10 design, battery and processor

Here are all the colors of the Pixel 10, from left to right: Indigo, lemongrass, frost, obsidan.

Joe Maldonado/CNET

The Pixel 10 is nearly identical to the Pixel 9. The camera bar on the back defines the phone and keeps it from being a wobbly nightmare when it's laid flat on a table. The new Pixel comes in several colors: Frost, lemongrass, obsidian and indigo -- yes, that's the same deep blue hue that the original Pixel came in back in 2016. The frame is made from aluminum and has a satin finish that complements the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 polished back. The screen is also covered in Victus 2.

The new Pixel has a bigger battery -- 4,970 mAh -- than last year's Pixel 9 which had a 4,700-mAh battery. It will be curious to see how much of a boost the larger battery gives. Last year's Pixel 9 easily got through a busy day on a single charge, but the Pixel 10 has a brighter screen and new AI features which might cancel out any gains. I look forward to testing it out.

Here is the Pixel 10 attached magnetically to a Pixelsnap charging stand with the weather app open.

Joe Maldonado/CNET

The Pixel 10 supports Qi2 wireless charging up to 15W and has magnets on back to help it ensure the correct alignment with a charger. What's nice is like Apple's MagSafe for the iPhone those magnets, which Google calls Pixelsnap, can support magnetic accessories like a wallet or grip. In theory, you should be able to use iPhone MagSafe accessories, too. I got to try out Google's Pixelsnap Ring Stand, which is both a grip and a nifty stand, and I was enthusiastic about it.

US models of the Pixel 10 lack a physical SIM card and instead support two active eSIMs but can store eight more. The phone runs on Google's Tensor G5 chip (the same one found in the 10 Pro) and 12GB of RAM. It comes with Android 16 out of the box and the phone looks incredible with the Material 3 Expressive design overhaul. Let's just say it's got that quirky Pixel vibe down pat.

Pixel 10 cameras 

While the camera bar on the Pixel 10 might look familiar it now houses three cameras instead of the two found on previous models.

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

The Pixel 10 has three new rear cameras. There's a trio of lenses: a wide-angle, an ultrawide and a 5x telephoto. On paper, the 48-megapixel wide-angle camera and the 13-megapixel ultrawide seem identical to the cameras on Pixel 9A. It's not that those cameras are bad -- I've gotten some wonderful images from the Pixel 9A -- it's that the Pixel 10 feels a bit less special without having the same wide and ultrawide cameras found on the Pixel 10 Pro. I should also remind myself that Google's photo processing pipeline has much more to do with the Pixel's reputation for taking excellent phone photos than the actual lens and sensor hardware.

Expanding the phone's rear cameras from two to three should make a lot of people happy. This makes the Pixel 10 more competitive with Samsung's Galaxy S25 which also has three rear cameras. And it upstages the iPhone 16 which just has two rear cameras. More cameras aren't necessarily better, but I'm excited to see what it's like to use them.

Around the front, is a 10.5-megapixel selfie camera.

Pixel 10 AI and Gemini

Here is a quartet of Pixel 10 phones.

Joe Maldonado/CNET

Google's latest Pixel comes with a bunch of AI tools and goodies. There's a new Gemini-powered Camera Coach which can give you a mini step-by-step tutorial on how to take a better photo. It makes suggestions like having you step closer to your subject or changing your framing to help you grab a better image. This seems aimed at someone who wants to improve their photography skills or slow down and really concentrate on being in the moment and getting the best photo. There's even a Get Inspired option which really gave me some suggestions that I would have never thought to try.

Best Take debuted on the Pixel 8 and uses a series of images of a group photo to find the "best" expression for each person in the picture. When I first tried it in 2023, I called it face swap, because that's what it's kind of doing. The idea is that friend who always has their eyes closed in a group shot can have their "face replaced" with another image in the series where their eyes are open. On the Pixel 10, this all happens automatically so you don't need to worry about having enough images to swap faces.

Then there's Magic Cue which can pull up relevant information off your phone based on what you're doing. For example, if a friend is asking for the address for your Airbnb it will surface that info so you don't need to go digging for it. Out of all the AI features on the Pixel 10 series, I am most intrigued by Magic Cue. If it works as advertised I can see it being a valuable way to save time and minimize the stress of searching for things on your phone.

Like the Pixel 9 series, the Pixel 10 has Gemini integrated into it. I half-joked last year that Google was going to change the name of its phones from Pixel to Gemini. The same is true this year. And I'm keen to see how it handles with the new Tensor G5 chip.