Google Pixel 10 leak is a warning shot for Apple to lift its iPhone game

Yahoo

12-03-2025

Google's Pixel phones have cultivated a solid reputation for their stunning camera chops. In 2025, Google might take things to the next level with the Pixel 10, edging past mainline iPhones in the process. As per a fresh leak, it seems the company's next baseline flagship will take the zoom capture prowess to newer heights.
The folks over at Android Headlines (in collaboration with @OnLeaks) have shared alleged product renders of the upcoming Pixel 10, which shows a triple-lens camera array at the back. On the Pixel 10, buyers will be greeted by a dedicated telephoto zoom camera.
So far, Google has only offered triple rear cameras on its flagship phones. The entry-point phones, on the other hand, have only served two lenses for regular and ultrawide capture, respectively.
This isn't your usual stacked lens zoom system, though. The rectangular lens cutout suggests that we are getting a periscope-style folded lens zoom kit, similar to the Pro flagships. That means the optical zoom output is going to be on the higher side.
On the Pixel 9, the lack of a dedicated zoom camera is somewhat filled in by a sensor-cropped 2x zoom capture. To further assist users with long-range shots, the camera app offers Google's 8x Super Res Zoom mode.
This feature kicks into action when users are zooming deep into a frame. The image capture begins with what Google calls 'HDR+ with bracketing.' This is essentially clicking multiple photos at different exposure levels. Next, a remosaicing tool takes over the hardware-software processing pipeline.
This software trick takes sensor-cropped shots at a lower resolution compared to the native camera resolution — as in delivering 12MP shots from a 48MP sensor — in order to reduce noise. All that sounds impressive, but zoom shots obtained from the main sensor are no match for what a dedicated telephoto sensor can deliver.
With the Pixel 10 adding a dedicated telephoto array, users can expect more 'natural' long range shots and a higher zoom output. This is a massive upgrade, considering the price bracket of the entry-point Pixel phones.
The Pixel 9, for example, started at $799 in the US, same as the iPhone 16. Both the phones offer a similar dual-camera layout. If the Pixel 10 indeed gets a dedicated zoom camera — without a price hike — Apple will have to seriously lift its game.
The Galaxy S25 stands out, as it offers a dedicated zoom camera at the same asking price. However, it's the regular telephoto lens layout, and not the more powerful periscope zoom camera that the pricier Galaxy S25 Ultra or the Pixel 9 Pro bring to the table.
As far as the design goes, the Pixel 10 will essentially mimic what the Pixel 9 Pro looks today, down to the chassis format and the pill-shaped camera hump at the back. It seems Google is focusing more on the meaningful upgrades than refreshing the design language this time around.
Talking about hardware upgrades, it seems Google will deliver a double whammy this year. The Tensor G5 processor, as per leaks, will deliver a more powerful CPU core cluster this time. The silicon will rely on eight cores, as usual, but the core distribution is said to be more powerful this time around.
For heavy-lifting, there is going to be a single Arm Cortex-X4 processing core on the chip. But unlike the Tensor G4 silicon aboard the Pixel 9 series, which offers three Arm Cortex-A720 cores for medium-intensity tasks, the Tensor G5 will reportedly feature five Cortex-A725 cores.
To handle less-compute intensive tasks, the Tensor G5 might serve two Cortex-A520 cores. Theoretically, we are looking at a stronger multi-core processing output on the Pixel 10 series phones, not just because there are more powerful and efficient Arm cores, but also due to the higher number of mid-grade processing cores.
On the graphics side, Google might ditch Arm's Mali GPU in favor of a unit supplied by Imagination Technologies. The rumored dual-core IMX DXT graphics engine will bring support for hardware-accelerated ray-tracing and GPU virtualization for the first time to Pixel phones.
Technically, one can expect dramatic improvement in the visual quality of high-end mobile games. Furthermore, a beefier GPU will also deliver improvements in certain camera-related processes.
Pixels are deemed to be the ideal choice if one aims to experience the best implementation of 'smartphone AI.' That's because Google commands the hardware accelerator stack as well as the underlying OS and the Gemini AI architecture.
On the Pixel 10, the AI output is also getting a lift. The Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) on the Tensor G5 silicon will reportedly deliver a 14% boost in AI performance, going from 13 (INT8) / 6.5 (FP16) TOPS output on the Pixel 9 family to 18 (INT8) / 9 (FP16) TOPS output on the Pixel 10 series.
As per the latest leak, the vanilla Pixel 10 will feature a 6.3-inch display, the same as its predecessor. If the standard Pixel 9 is anything to go by, the upcoming phone will deliver an OLED panel with FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate.
So far, the leak mill has been silent about other aspects of the phone, though. Yet, based on what we've seen so far, the Pixel 10 is shaping up to be a terrific iterative upgrade. And if Google manages to avoid a price hike, this one is going to become the default choice for Android shoppers for a lot of reasons.
Google has almost caught up with Apple at the software update longevity. Moreover, the company's work with OS-level AI implementation is far ahead of Apple. In fact, Gemini is delivering a more fulfilling experience on iPhones at this point in time than the Siri-ChatGPT bonhomie within Apple Intelligence.
If Google gets the Pixel 10's pricing strategy right, it will likely emerge as one of the most well-rounded value propositions out there. I'm just hooping the buggy demons of the Pixel series' past don't raise their ugly heads once again.