Google Pixel 10 Series Review: These Flagship Phones Impress
We used these three Pixel 10 phones on AT&T’s sub-6GHz 5G and 4G LTE network in San Francisco, and didn’t run into any signal issues. Data speeds matched other devices on AT&T, and calls sounded loud and clear. Here in the US, these handsets support 4G LTE, sub-6GHz 5G, and mmWave 5G on the big three carriers (T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon), but lack SIM trays. In other words, these new Pixel phones are eSIM only in the US, so keep that in mind.
Pixel 10 Series Reception And Sound Quality
Unfortunately, without SIM trays – and because we didn’t have access to T-Mobile or Verizon eSIMs in a timely manner – we couldn’t test these phones on all three carriers. Thankfully, AT&T was able to provide us with eSIMs in time for this review. As we’ve mentioned before, eSIM-only devices make it significantly more difficult to swap SIMs, give consumers less choice, and generally add unnecessary friction.
But we have good news. Outside the US, the Pixel 10, 10 Pro, and 10 Pro XL come with SIM trays and support both physical SIMs and eSIMs. So, if you can live without mmWave 5G, buying one of these handsets abroad might be the solution. For example, the Canadian Pixel 10 lineup supports the same sub-6GHz 5G and 4G LTE bands as in the US, and includes SIM trays. In other words, you can have your cake and eat it too.
Pixel 10 Series Performance
The Pixel 10 lineup packs Google’s new Tensor G5 SoC which is manufactured using TSMC’s 3nm process and was entirely designed in-house without any of Samsung’s Exynos IP. It’s paired with 12GB of RAM on the Pixel 10 and 16GB on the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL. Storage options include 128GB (UFS 3.1) on the Pixel 10 and 10 Pro, 256GB (UFS 4.0) on all three handsets, and 512GB or 1TB (Zoned UFS) on the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL.Google’s Tensor G5 is supposed to be slightly more power efficient than Tensor G4, and deliver longer battery life and better thermals – two areas where Pixel phones have consistently struggled. The Pixel 10 lineup also features Samsung’s Exynos Modem 5400, which carries over from last year’s Pixel 9 series, and includes satellite connectivity. Google was rumored to switch to a MediaTek modem, but that didn’t happen.
We didn’t experience any problems running our usual collection of productivity, social media, and entertainment apps. All three Pixel 10 handsets felt snappy no matter the task. Our standard array of benchmarks showed that Tensor G5 performs better than Tensor G4 in most scenarios.
Clearly, Tensor G5 isn’t as fast as Qualcomm and MediaTek’s best chips, but we’re pretty confident that – hard-core gamers aside – most people won’t notice the difference. Overall, Google's Tensor G5 delivers a welcome performance boost over Tensor G4.
Pixel 10 Series Geekbench Results
GeekBench is a cross-platform benchmark that simulates real-world processing workloads in image processing and particle physics calculation scenarios. We tested all of the smartphones featured here with GeekBench's single and multi-core workloads.
Pixel 10 Series AnTuTu 8 Benchmarks
AnTuTu’s latest benchmark returns a number of metrics ranked with somewhat nebulous scores, rather than frame rates or time to complete. Here we're running the latest version of AnTuTu across multiple Android devices. AnTuTu returns four top level performance results which are all included here: CPU, RAM, 3D, UX (or User Experience), along with a total score.
According to AnTuTu, the Pixel 10 Series offers slight increase in performance vs. the previous generation Pixel handsets, slotting right above the Pixel 9a in terms of overall score.
Pixel 10 Series Graphics And Gaming Benchmarks Results
Now, let's take a look at how the Pixel 10 Series stacks up in GFXBench, which has been one of the standard mobile graphics/gaming performance benchmarks for years. To ensure that display refresh (v-sync) and resolution aren't limiting factors, we're comparing off-screen test results here. GFXBench tests OpenGL ES graphics workloads and we're specifically testing Vulkan in the latest iterations.
In this test, we're seeing Google's Tensor G5 roughly matching Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 in terms of performance. Google's Tensor G5 doesn't deliver killer performance in graphically rich, gaming-oriented benchmarks but once again it's significantly faster then the previous gen Pixel 9 series.
Pixel 10 Series 3DMark Wild Life Benchmark Tests
3DMark Wild Life is the latest cross-platform test from UL. Its
primary purpose is to measure GPU performance across platforms, and two
distinct tests are available. The standard Wild Life test is designed to
give feedback on how a game performs over a short period of time. With
mobile games, people typically play in brief spurts when they find some
free time; be it on the bus, on the subway, or a quick battle royale
session over lunch break. The 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test, on the other
hand, shows how a device performs over a longer stretch of time, and
takes note of performance degradation that might crop up due to
increased heat levels and throttling.
3DMark Wild Life is a significantly more taxing graphics benchmark
that employs cutting-edge mobile game engine technologies to deliver
impressive visuals -- as you can see in the screen shot above.
Here, the Pixel 10 Series makes a stronger showing and slots in way ahead of the Pixel 9 series and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered handsets, in this benchmark.
Overall, the Pixel 10 Series doesn't exhibits excessive
thermal throttling, with the Pixel 10 Pro XL managing a stability score of 85.6% in the Wild Life Stress test. That's reasonably good.
Pixel 10 Series Additional Features And Battery Life
Spec-wise, the Pixel 10 includes sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G, 4G LTE, WiFi 6e (802.11ax), Bluetooth v6.0 + LE, NFC, and dual-band A-GPS / GLONASS / Galileo / BeiDou / QZSS / NavIC positioning -- plus the usual assortment of sensors. In addition, the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL bring WiFi 7 (802.11be) and UWB to the spec list. The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is fast and reliable, and haptics are precise and strong.When it comes to battery life, we’ve definitely noticed an improvement with these phones over the Pixel 9 series. Those higher capacity batteries definitely help. So far, battery life appears to be about 5-10% better across the board. This means these three Pixel 10 handsets should easily last an entire day on a full charge for most people.
Update (Aug 29, 2025): In our PCMark Work 3.0 battery test, the Pixel 10 lasted 16 hours and 5 minutes, the Pixel 10 Pro ran for 16 hours and 27 minutes, and the Pixel 10 Pro XL scored 17 hours and 16 minutes.
Next up: software, AI, and review verdict...
