The cheaper alternative

Review: Google Pixel 10 - Top model with thoughtful compromises

Google's cheaper top model Pixel 10 is a well-balanced package.

Published 10 September 2025 - 10:15

Google Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro are very similar in appearance. Additionally, Pixel 10 is very similar to Pixel 9, Google's design that has evolved continuously from model to model in the Pixel series seems to have settled here in a form with fairly soft shapes in the frame and a large and quite angular camera island. If you look closely at the camera island, you can see that Pixel 10 has received an extra camera compared to Pixel 9, but they are not the same cameras as on Pixel 10. Otherwise, it's mostly design elements like Pixel 10 having a matte frame and glossy back while Pixel 10 Pro has a glossy frame and matte back that differentiate them. We have tested Google Pixel 10 and Google Pixel 10 Pro in parallel, and since the phones are very similar, we recommend that you also read our test of Pixel 10 Pro here.

Pixel 10 is 2300 kronor cheaper than Pixel 10 Pro, so it might be worth going through the differences so you know what you are missing out on by choosing the cheaper model. Firstly, a year with Google One with AI Pro and 2 TB storage is included in the more expensive model. This is a service that normally costs 255 SEK/month, so if this is something you usually pay for, Pixel 10 Pro has already paid the difference there.

Otherwise, the differences are that the Pixel 10 has 12 GB of RAM while the Pixel 10 Pro has 16 GB, the Pixel 10 has three cameras like the 10 Pro but all the cameras are of a simpler type, and the Pixel 10 also has a slightly simpler screen.

We can start with the screen. It has Full HD resolution (Pixel 10 Pro has a slightly higher resolution), is of OLED type and has a 120 Hz refresh rate. But it is not of LTPO type, which means it can switch in refresh rate between 60 and 120 Hz, but not go down to lower frequencies like the screen on the 10 Pro can. In terms of features, this means you can have an Always On display so that the screen shows the time on the Pixel 10, but on the Pixel 10 Pro you can also display the entire home screen dimmed without it consuming too much power.

When you place the phones side by side, it is noticeable that the Pixel 10 Pro has a better screen, but the difference is marginal. Even the Pixel 10 has a screen with a significantly high maximum brightness that performs excellently in direct sunlight.

Magnetic Charging

The most important news in the entire Pixel family is that the devices now support the Qi 2.2 standard. This means that they can be charged faster wirelessly, with up to 25 watts instead of 15 watts, and that there are magnetic mounts on the back of the charger so you can snap the charger into place without having to align it perfectly. You can even attach spare batteries to the back of the device. Google calls it Pixel Snap and has a range of compatible accessories, but it is exactly the same as Apple's Magsafe in standard form, and Magsafe accessories also work with the Pixel 10.

Google Pixel 10 has three cameras on the back, main camera, wide-angle and telephoto. Just like Pixel 10 Pro, but all the cameras have lower resolution, and this also applies to the selfie camera on the front. Here it is interesting to compare with Pixel 9 as well. Compared to Pixel 9, Pixel 10 has received a telephoto camera with 5x zoom, but in return, the main camera and wide-angle camera have actually become worse.

I have tested the camera in Pixel 10 together with Pixel 10 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S25, which is in the same price range as Pixel 10, and quite consistently, whether I test in sunlight, darkness, zoom or wide-angle, the three mobiles distribute so that Pixel 10 Pro takes the best pictures, Galaxy S25 the worst, and Pixel 10 falls in between. Often closer to Pixel 10 Pro than Galaxy S25. Despite the downgrade of the camera sensors, it is therefore a really good camera setup, and apart from extreme zoom photography, the cameras in Pixel 10 Pro are only marginally better in most situations.

It is difficult to say whether the extra 4 GB of RAM makes a difference in performance in Pixel 10 Pro compared to Pixel 10. Overall, it is difficult to say anything about the performance. Google has blocked the benchmark apps on our pre-release samples, and when we bypass the block, we get results that suggest the Tensor G5 chipset is actually slower than the Tensor G4 found in the Pixel 9 family.

Google themselves claim that the Tensor G5 provides a significant increase in computational performance for AI functions and more marginal improvements in general processing power. The graphics processors are not mentioned at all, but we know that Google has replaced them, and much suggests that these are actually slower than in the Pixel 9. Therefore, it is primarily for 3D graphics that one might feel that the Pixel 10 underperforms for a top model. In most other uses, we do not notice at all that the phone would be slow in any way.

Discreetly updated appearance

The phone comes with Android 16 and is promised seven years of system updates, security updates, and so-called Pixel Drops, where the phone receives new system functions between system updates. Google has also updated the user interface with the new design language Material 3 Expressive. Or new and new. If you place an older Pixel next to the Pixel 10, you can see that there are differences, some buttons are larger here, positioned slightly differently there. But I think for most people it's hard to see the difference, it's definitely not a dramatic change.

The Pixel series is in many ways Google's demonstration platform for new software, and in recent years this has meant new AI functions. It has been a sad chapter for us Swedes, because as soon as a function involves language or image interpretation, the function has been removed from Swedish models, and we have received mobiles where surprisingly little is unique to Pixel.

Therefore, I am pleasantly surprised by the function for live translation of phone calls. With AI, phone calls can be directly translated into 11 languages, and Swedish is on the short list.

It works like this: you call someone and specify which language they speak. You then get what you say translated into the other person's language and vice versa. The whole process happens with inevitable delay because you have to say entire sentences for what you say to be interpreted. What impresses the most is that the translation also mimics your voice, and it does so impressively well without needing to be trained for it.

Camera Coach

Another feature is called Camera Coach and is found in the camera app. You point the camera at the subject and activate the function to get suggestions on different focuses in the image, and how you can change angle and position to improve the picture. Particularly inexperienced photographers can surely learn a lot from this, even though it is not a function for a quick snapshot.

The new Diary app is also available in Pixel 10. You can choose what type of diary you want to write, from reflections on life to activities or a training diary, and you can choose more than one category. In the app, you can write small texts and add pictures. AI will then suggest pictures and things to write about, and it will be able to draw conclusions over time. According to the material we received, the suggestion part is not supposed to work in Swedish, but it does in our test sample.

However, we do not get all the new AI features in Sweden this time either. For example, a screenshot tool that can analyse the subject and extract text from it is missing, as well as a new correction function in Gboard that can not only spellcheck but also correct grammar and suggest language improvements.

Whether it's Google's Tensor chips or that they don't optimise the system in the same way as other manufacturers do, battery life is not Pixel's strength and never has been. This also applies to the Pixel 10, which gets a battery result below the average for top models in this class in our test. It may be interesting to note that it gets longer battery life than its big brother, the Pixel 10 Pro.

The Pixel 10 is an excellent mobile that is easy to like. Which of it and the Pixel 10 Pro is the best purchase depends on whether it is important to have the best possible cameras and if you use Google One. If the answer to either of these two is yes, then the Pixel 10 Pro is the one you should have.