While competitors wage war over megapixels and charging watts, Google has consistently argued that the smartest phone, not just the strongest, wins the day. The Pixel 10 Pro XL arrives as the latest and most potent expression of that philosophy.
There’s something both comforting and slightly frustrating about picking up the Pixel 10 Pro XL. At first glance, it looks like last year’s Pixel 9 Pro XL put on a new jacket and called it a day. Same visor-bar camera, same curves, same silhouette you can now spot from across a café. Only when you hold it do you realise it’s heavier and denser in the hand. This year, the revolution isn’t on the outside. It’s hiding inside, in the form of the brand-new Tensor G5.
So, does Google’s 2025 flagship prove that brains finally beat brawn?
Read More: Why Google’s Tensor G5 is 50% slower than competitors and why it doesn’t matter
If you were hoping for a radical design overhaul, the Pixel 10 Pro XL will feel like a case of déjà vu. Google has chosen the path of confident refinement, sticking to the exact same dimensions and design language as the previous generation. Yet, to hold it is to understand the subtle changes. The first thing you’ll notice is the increased weight; at 232 grams, it has a new, premium heft that feels more substantial and dense in the hand, almost like every millimetre of its body has been tightened up. The weight is distributed evenly and combined with the comfortably rounded aluminium frame, it makes for an exceptionally ergonomic device despite its large size.
Our review unit comes in the new “Jade” colour, which is a muted green, almost moss-like, but looks stunning. The back glass features a soft, anti-glare matte finish that feels silky to the touch and does an excellent job of repelling fingerprints and smudges. This is contrasted beautifully by the reflective, jewel-like chrome finish of the frame and the iconic camera bar. The only other visual tweak is a slightly larger “G” logo on the back, a subtle nod to the more powerful internals.
The camera bar itself is functionally unchanged. It spans the width of the device with the same polished chrome finish as the frame. Impressively, there is virtually no wobble when the phone is placed on a flat surface. While some may argue the design is playing it too safe, it’s hard to deny its premium feel. The Pixel 10 Pro XL doesn’t scream for attention; instead, it exudes a quiet confidence built on excellent ergonomics and top-tier materials.
While the design of the Pixel 10 Pro XL plays it safe, the display is a significant and immediately noticeable leap forward. The 6.8-inch LTPO OLED panel is, simply put, one of the most stunning screens on the market today. The 2992×1344 pixels resolution keeps everything exceptionally sharp, while the 120Hz refresh rate, which can intelligently scale down to save power, ensures that every scroll and animation is flawlessly smooth. For daily use, it’s a joy, producing the vibrant colours and deep, inky blacks we expect from a world-class OLED. Scrolling feels weightless, animations are liquid smooth, and even mundane tasks like swiping through Gmail feel weirdly satisfying.
Where the display truly sets a new standard is in its brightness and colour fidelity. To verify Google’s claims, we tested the panel using our professional Calman software and a SpectraCal C6 colorimeter. In normal use, we measured a superb peak brightness of 2000 nits, which makes the screen perfectly legible even under the harsh glare of direct sunlight. For HDR content, the display can push highlights to an astonishing 3300 nits, creating incredible contrast and a truly immersive viewing experience for movies and videos.
The panel is also incredibly accurate. As per our Calman analysis, the screen registered an average deltaE of just 1.8. Any value under 2.0 is considered excellent, meaning the colours you see are almost indistinguishable from reality, making it a fantastic canvas for viewing and editing the photos you take. This is backed by a measured 99.9% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, ensuring a rich and vibrant range of colours.
I’ve loved Pixels for years, but Tensor chips have always had caveats: heat issues, throttling, slightly behind-the-pack performance. The G5 feels like the company has finally closed the gap and earns its keep.
It’s built on a more efficient 3nm process and features a new PowerVR GPU. This chip is designed to elevate the Pixel experience in every way. From daily tasks and multitasking to a bit of gaming and on-device AI, it’s snappy in a way previous Pixels just weren’t.
Apps open instantly, multitasking with 16GB of RAM is effortless and navigating the interface is flawlessly smooth. This is perfectly reflected in its PCMark Work score of 14,921, a significant 13% jump over the Pixel 9 Pro XL. This test simulates everyday tasks, proving the G5 delivers tangible improvements where it matters most to the average user.
The synthetic benchmark results paint a more complex, but ultimately positive, picture. While the overall AnTuTu score shows only a minor increase, the Geekbench single-core score jumped by a solid 12% to 2,153. Curiously, the multi-core score remained flat, but this doesn’t impact the phone’s real-world feel. More importantly, Google has finally mastered thermal management. In our CPU Throttling test, the Tensor G5 consistently maintained 94% of its maximum performance on average under sustained load, a phenomenal result that banishes the thermal concerns of past Tensor generations.
For gamers, the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme score skyrocketed to 3,240, a massive 26% increase over its predecessor. This finally puts the Pixel in the top tier of gaming phones, capable of running the most graphically demanding titles at high frame rates with sustained stability.
Of course, a Pixel’s performance isn’t just about raw numbers. It’s about the software. The phone runs a pristine version of Android 16, with a major design refresh called “Material 3 Expressive.” Building on the principles of Material You, this is Google’s most researched design update ever, leveraging 46 studies with over 18,000 participants. In practice, this translates to a UI that feels alive.
Animations are fluid and natural, with satisfying springy effects when dismissing apps or notifications. Interactions are paired with crisp haptic feedback for a more tactile feel and a subtle background blur in the notification shade adds a sophisticated sense of depth. Beyond aesthetics, Android 16 brings powerful quality-of-life improvements. The new Live Updates feature intelligently presents glanceable, real-time information from services like ride-sharing or food delivery front and centre. The home screen grid and Quick Settings have also been updated with better alignment and more customisation options.
At the core of this experience is Google’s advanced AI, now fully integrated as Gemini. Powered by the on-device Gemini Nano model, the entire suite of Pixel-exclusive features feels faster and more capable. Established tools like Circle to Search, Live Translate and Call Assist are joined by powerful new capabilities such as Gemini Live, Magic Cue and enhanced Pixel Screenshots.
And with seven years of OS upgrades promised, this is a phone designed to age like fine wine.
If you’ve owned a Pixel before, you’ll know the battery life story has been inconsistent, but with the Pixel 10 Pro XL, Google is betting on the combination of a larger 5200 mAh cell and the efficiency gains from the 3nm Tensor G5 chip. The result is the best battery performance we’ve ever seen from a Pixel device. In our daily use, the phone proved to be a true all-day champion, comfortably lasting from morning to night with heavy use involving photography, social media, and a couple of hours of gaming, with around 15-20% left in the tank, giving us 6-7 hours of screen on time, which is solid.
In the PCMark battery life test, which simulates continuous mixed usage, the Pixel 10 Pro XL lasted an impressive 16 hours and 36 minutes, over two hours longer than the Pixel 9 Pro XL.
When it comes to charging, the phone supports 45W wired charging, and we clocked a full 0-100% charge in 87 minutes. While this is paradoxically a few minutes slower than its predecessor, it’s likely due to the larger battery capacity and a charging curve likely optimised for long-term battery health, because we noticed the charging speed slowing down in the final stretch.
Furthermore, Google has embraced modern standards with support for 25W wireless charging via the new universal Qi2 standard, and the inclusion of bypass charging is a welcome feature for gamers, allowing the phone to run on direct power to reduce heat and battery strain during intense sessions.
On paper, the camera hardware hasn’t changed. We get a powerful trio of a 50MP wide, 48MP ultrawide and 48MP 5x telephoto, but the story, as always with Pixel, is about the software. After putting the phone through its paces in a variety of challenging scenarios, one thing is clear: the Pixel 10 Pro XL doesn’t just take pictures; it captures moments with an intelligence that often borders on magic.
The 50MP main camera is the system’s anchor and it’s nothing short of phenomenal. In bright daylight, the large 1/1.31″ sensor and wide ƒ/1.7 aperture work together to produce images with incredible detail and a pleasing, natural depth of field. Photos of intricate stonework reveal textures you can almost feel, while shots of colourful flower pots and murals pop with vibrant, yet true-to-life colours.
But it’s when the sun goes down that the Pixel’s legend truly comes alive. Night Sight is better than ever, transforming dimly lit scenes into bright, clean and atmospheric photos. It expertly handles extreme dynamic range, retaining highlights in bright neon signs while pulling out detail from deep shadows, all without excessive noise. The shot of a tree against the night sky, with the moon clearly visible, is a perfect example of this computational wizardry, a scene that most other smartphone cameras would simply fail to capture.
The 48MP ultrawide camera gives you an expansive 123° field of view is perfect for dramatic architectural shots and sweeping landscapes. Google’s processing does an excellent job of correcting for distortion, keeping lines straight even at the edges of the frame.
Where it truly shines, however, is with the automatic Macro Focus mode. By getting close to a subject, the phone seamlessly switches to the ultrawide camera, unlocking a new level of detail. We were able to capture the delicate pollen on a hibiscus stamen and the texture of cheese on a pasta dish with stunning clarity.
The 48MP telephoto lens provides a crisp 5x optical zoom, which is perfect for closing the distance without losing quality. Shots of distant buildings retain sharp lines and good texture. However, the real magic is Pro Res Zoom. Using a combination of the high-resolution sensor and advanced AI algorithms, the Pixel 10 Pro XL delivers shockingly good results at 10x and even holds its own at much higher zoom levels.
This lens isn’t just for distant subjects. It’s also a fantastic tool for composition and portraiture, offering a compressed perspective that beautifully isolates your subject from the background. The photo of the painted pinecone, for instance, uses the telephoto lens to create a creamy, out-of-focus background that makes the subject pop.
The Portrait Mode continues Pixel’s legacy and the subject detection is simply sublime. Edge cutouts are precise, expertly navigating tricky areas like hair and eyeglasses to produce a believable, DSLR-like bokeh.
The “Real Tone” technology proves its worth time and time again, ensuring all skin tones are rendered beautifully and accurately. This was most evident in a challenging night portrait, where the subject was illuminated by an overwhelming red neon sign. While most phones would produce a ghastly, colour-cast image, the Pixel 10 Pro XL’s processing neutralised the harsh light on the subject, delivering a stunningly natural skin tone.
The Pixel 10 Pro XL’s camera is a masterclass in computational photography. It offers a wonderfully consistent experience across all three of its lenses, erasing any hesitation about which one to use. Whether you’re shooting a wide landscape, a detailed macro, a distant subject, or a difficult portrait, the phone simply delivers a fantastic shot with almost zero effort. With the addition of Pro Controls for enthusiasts and the promise of features like 8K Video Boost, Google has crafted a camera system that is as profoundly powerful as it is beautifully simple.
The Google Pixel 10 Pro XL is not just an incremental update; it is a profound refinement of the Pixel formula, where every meaningful upgrade is focused on the user experience.
It’s not the flashiest, nor the fastest-charging, nor the most megapixel-obsessed. It’s the phone that quietly works smarter than everything else around it. And sometimes, that’s what you really want, a tool that feels like it’s thinking alongside you, not just responding to taps.
The Tensor G5 finally gives Pixels the performance chops they always needed. Android 16’s Material 3 Expressive design makes the phone feel alive. The display is a world-class canvas. And the cameras, while unchanged on paper, are textbook Pixel.
Who should buy this?
The Pixel 10 Pro XL is Google’s philosophy perfected: a device that feels less like a gadget, more like a companion.
