After a month with the Pixel 10, I admit I was wrong

Before the Pixel 10 series went official, I opined that the Pixel 10 Pro was the better small-sized Pixel to get this year. I had my reasons, and they did seem valid before I had used the phones in person. The $200 price difference felt justified; the Pro looked that much more appealing, even if the gap wasn’t massive.

But things have changed now. I said back then, too, that the Pixel 10 Pro is for those who value the extras. However, those differences seemed bigger on paper than they do now in flesh. After nearly a month with the base Pixel 10 — and swallowing my pride — I’ll admit I was wrong.

The Pixel 10 has grown on me in a way that makes me think it’s the phone most people should buy instead of the Pro. Those $200 saved are better spent on a good wall charger, some nice Qi2 accessories, or a quality case.

Somehow, we’ve landed in an era where the cheapest flagships not only offer the best value but come ridiculously close to their Pro siblings. The Pixel 10 kicked off this trend, and it doesn’t feel like a compromised phone anymore — one less camera and much weaker specs are a thing of the past. Previously, Google would deliberately limit the non-Pro model just enough to push people toward the Pro, enticing them to spend that extra $200. But that isn’t the case this year.

Even on Apple’s side, the base iPhone 17 is so complete that no previous entry-level flagship iPhone has looked this good. It’s the closest a base model has ever come to the iPhone Pro lineup in a lot of ways. In fact, it even one-ups the Pixel 10 in one key area: storage. It starts at 256GB, while the Pixel 10 still gives you just 128GB at the same price — not nearly enough for storing all your photos and videos, though you can still work around that limitation on Android.

One of my primary reasons for leaning toward the Pixel 10 Pro over the standard model was its higher-res telephoto camera. The Pro packs a 48MP tele, while the base Pixel 10 finally got a tele for the first time, but it’s just a 10.2MP unit. Both on paper and in real life, the quality difference is noticeable, especially if you like zooming into your shots afterward, like I do.

I love using telephoto lenses for portraits. That punched-in look with blurred backgrounds is always a fan favorite. I shoot portraits of people, food, leaves, random things — basically everything that catches my eye. But there’s a problem with Pixels, and it’s a really blurry one.

Pixels have historically (pardon my French) sucked at edge detection. Early on, they were better than rivals, but Google has been stuck there ever since, while the competition drove past them a while ago. So much so that I wish the Pixel 10 Pro ditched that useless temperature sensor for a LiDAR sensor like the Pro iPhones.

And the sad reality is, the Pixel 10 Pro isn’t any better at portraits than its predecessors. Edge detection is iffy, creating halos around subjects (especially around minute details like hair) as a persistent reminder of its ineptitude, as if the bokeh was added in post. Sure, it is indeed computational blur, but other brands now make it look far more natural, and almost indistinguishable from a DSLR output.

So here’s my question: if both telephotos are terrible in their own way, why should I spend a couple hundred bucks more for the higher-quality terribleness? Why pay more for a fancier bucket of crap when it’s still just crap?

A month is enough time to see a phone for what it really is — beyond marketing material or spec comparisons. In isolation, the Pixel 10 hasn’t troubled me with things that seemed substantial earlier, like the display not dropping to 1Hz or not being bright enough in sunlight. I barely notice those, and chances are, neither will most buyers.

Sure, I did feel some FOMO knowing the Pro gets Video Boost and AOD wallpaper. But given how horrible Pixel battery performance is across the board — Pros, non-Pros all included — I would’ve kept AOD wallpaper off anyway. That’s another factor: many of Pixel 10’s shortcomings aren’t Pixel 10-only. For instance, all three models share weak graphics performance and underwhelming battery life.

So I’ll ask again: if the Pro doesn’t give you a significant bump realistically, why bother spending more? When you have to pick your poison, it’s better to go with the cheaper one. Because even if the other is a higher-quality poison, it’s still poison — the quality of the bottle or the poisonability (yes, I just made that up), doesn’t change the fact. Right?

I know this is starting to sound like you’re picking the lesser of two evils, but that’s not entirely fair. The Pixels 10s are perhaps the most polished Pixels to ever ship out of Google’s assembly lines. Their loveliest part for me has to be Qi2 support. I’ve always believed magnets make everything better, and that’s true for phones, too. I can snap my Pixel onto my bedside MagSafe charger without fiddling with a USB cable in the dark — that’s top-tier convenience to match my slothfulness.

I’m also a fan of the new charging screen savers that surface your photos on the lock screen. More than once, I’ve caught myself smiling at a family photo from a decade ago that popped up on my Pixel 10. And the fact that it’s lightyears ahead of the iPhone in AI makes it an even better long-term buy.

Sure, the Pixel 10 doesn’t wear a Pro badge, but that third camera has reduced the gap this year, making it much more enticing. I’m glad I picked the Pixel 10 over the Pro, because otherwise I’d have beat myself up for buying a Pro that doesn’t feel Pro enough. And no, I don’t feel like I’m settling either.