Pixel 10 Pro

A Beautiful Phone Held Back by Real Problems

The Pixel 10 Pro is genuinely pretty. The design is refined, the colors are gorgeous, and the magnetic charging is one of those features you don't realize you need until you have it. It feels premium and looks great. I get why people are drawn to it.

But here's the thing: beauty isn't enough when the phone doesn't perform like it should at $999.

The biggest issue is performance. The Tensor G5 chip lags behind every other major Android phone, and you'll feel it when you're juggling apps, scrolling through heavy feeds, or trying to do anything demanding. For a flagship price, this is a real letdown. Casual users might not notice, but if you're someone who actually uses your phone throughout the day, it gets frustrating.

Then there's the battery. The 4870 mAh battery struggles to make it through a full day, especially if you're using the phone actively. The Tensor chip's inefficiency is the culprit, and it means you'll be looking for a charger by evening more often than not. That's not acceptable at this price.

The camera is excellent though. The triple setup with the 50MP wide and 5x telephoto gives you flexibility, and Google's AI processing makes your photos look polished and professional. This is where the Pixel 10 Pro genuinely shines. If you care about photography, you'll appreciate what this phone delivers.

Google's AI features are clever when they work, offering shortcuts and smart tools that feel genuinely helpful. But some features don't deliver as promised, which is disappointing when Google is making such a big deal about AI.

The display is beautiful too. The 6.3-inch OLED screen with 120Hz is bright, colorful, and smooth. Scrolling feels great, and videos look stunning.

Here's my honest take: the Pixel 10 Pro is a beautiful phone with a great camera, but it costs $999 and it has real performance and battery problems. You can get better performance for less money elsewhere. Unless you're deeply committed to Google's ecosystem or you absolutely love the design, there are better choices.

The Tensor Problem Won't Go Away

Google has a Tensor problem, and the Pixel 10 Pro proves it's not getting better. The Tensor G5 is the elephant in the room that reviewers keep politely mentioning while Google keeps charging $999. At this price point, you're competing directly with the iPhone 16 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Both deliver substantially better performance. Both maintain speed under load. The Pixel 10 Pro doesn't.

Let's be clear about what this means in practical terms. You're buying a phone that lags behind competitors in the exact metric that matters most for a flagship: raw speed. Gaming performance drops frames. Multitasking stutters. App launches are slower. These aren't theoretical benchmarks. They're the experience you get every day.

The battery situation compounds the problem. A 4870 mAh battery paired with an inefficient chip means you're getting a full day of moderate use at best. Heavy users will hit the charger by evening. This is unacceptable for a $999 device when competitors deliver 1.5 to 2 days of real-world battery life.

Google's AI features are the justification for the price, but they're also the biggest disappointment. The marketing promises are ambitious. The reality is messier. Some features work well. Others don't deliver as described. You're essentially paying a premium to beta test experimental features that might improve over time. That's not a value proposition. That's a gamble.

Where Google didn't cut corners, the results are impressive. The design is genuinely excellent. The colors are tasteful. Durability improvements are real. The LTPO OLED display is smooth and beautiful. Magnetic charging is useful. But premium design and a good display don't compensate for fundamental performance gaps at this price.

The business logic here is puzzling. Google is charging flagship prices while delivering midrange performance. They're betting that design, AI features, and brand loyalty can overcome a significant performance deficit. History suggests that bet won't pay off. Buyers eventually notice when their expensive phone is slower than competitors.

If you're deeply embedded in the Google ecosystem and value design above all else, the Pixel 10 Pro is defensible. For everyone else, you're paying $999 for a phone that performs like a $600 device. That's not a premium phone. That's a design statement with performance compromises.