Pixel 10 phones are launching this week — here's 5 things I'm looking for at the Made by Google event

Tom's Guide

a day ago

The annual Made by Google hardware event takes place this coming week, giving Google an opportunity to show off its latest devices, including new Pixel phones. And this year's edition, which takes place on Wednesday (August 20), has a greater sense of anticipation than most.
For starters, based on the rumors surrounding the Pixel 10 lineup, the phones coming out this year could introduce some significant changes, with the entry-level and high-end devices in particular getting some noteworthy improvements.
Beyond that, though, there's no denying that the smartphone market is a two-horse race, at least here in the U.S. I don't anticipate anything that Google announces this week to knock either Apple or Samsung from their lofty perches. But a successful Pixel 10 rollout would strengthen Google's position as the phone maker to turn to when you want to look beyond the Big Two. It would also raise the standing of the Pixel among the best Android phones out there.
With that in mind, here's what I'm looking for headed into the Made by Google event when it comes to the upcoming Pixel announcements.
If you believe all the rumors circulating about the Pixel 10, it's pretty clear what the biggest addition to Google's entry-level flagship phone will be. Tipsters expect the Pixel 10 to add a telephoto lens to its rear camera array, eliminating a key distinction between the standard Pixel and the Pro model.
The Pixel 10 will reportedly feature a 5x optical zoom, matching the Pixel 10 Pro. More importantly, it would top the 3x zoom on the Samsung Galaxy S25.
The zoom lens on the Pixel 10 is not expected to be as powerful as the ones on both the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL. According to rumors, Google is going with a 10.8MP telephoto lens for the Pixel 10. In contrast, the Pixel 10 Pro series should have a 48MP zoom lens. Google also might scale back on the Pixel 10's ultrawide camera, opting for a 12MP sensor instead of the 48MP shooter found on the Pixel 9.
It's the rumored zoom capabilities of the Pixel 10 that catch my attention. Supposedly, the new phone will support a 5x optical zoom, matching the Pixel 10 Pro. More importantly, it would top the 3x zoom that Samsung's Galaxy S25 offers.
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That's significant because the Galaxy S25 is one of the few sub-$800 flagship phones to feature a telephoto lens. (The OnePlus 13 has one, too, but it starts at $899.) If this Pixel 10 camera rumor proves accurate, you'll have another option when it comes to more affordable flagships with a full complement of cameras. And given Google's track record at producing the best camera phones, the Pixel 10 could prove to be a very formidable competitor.
On the opposite end of Google's Pixel lineup is the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, the expected update to the company's foldable phone. Following the Galaxy Z Fold 7 launch earlier this summer, the Pixel foldable would seem to be up against it — Samsung did a great job producing a thinner, lighter foldable phone with AI features that take advantage of that unique design.
Nevertheless, it sounds like a Galaxy Z Fold 7 vs. Pixel 10 Pro Fold face-off could be more of a donnybrook than you might think, with Google tipped to make in-roads on two fronts.
The first is durability. Rumors forecast that the Pixel 10 Pro Fold will offer an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, making it the first foldable phone to do so. Most foldables do just fine with protection against water, but the very nature of phones with hinges is that they have a hard time protecting against finer particles of dust. To that end, the Galaxy Z Fold Z offers an IP48 rating — good for water protection, but against dust, you take your chances.
Assuming that rumored IP68 rating turns out to be genuine, Google has a great selling point for the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, especially since durability continues to be an issue that prevents people from giving foldable devices a try.
The other thing that stops people from buying foldable phones is their prohibitively high prices, but again, Google might have an answer for that with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Some reports suggest a price cut from the Pixel 9 Pro Fold's $1,799 starting point to around $1,600 according to one source.
Yes, that's still a lot of money, but considering that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is bumping its head against the $2,000 ceiling, a $100 to $200 price cut would make the Pixel 10 Pro Fold a more compelling alternative.
Hardware details about phones often leak out, but tips about upcoming software features are harder to come by. Still, it's not going out on a limb to expect Google to spend a lot of time talking about new AI capabilities enabled by the Tensor G5 chipset we expect to power the Pixel 10 series. After all, AI has been the Pixel's calling card for years.
Even though definitive reports about new AI features have proven hard to come by, we've heard about a few potential additions like Camera Coach, in which the Gemini assistant guides you through taking the best possible shot, and a variation on the Sketch-to-Image Galaxy AI feature designed for Pixels. We've also heard talk of a more personalized assistant on board the latest Pixels.
Whatever Google winds up announcing will draw inevitable comparisons to both Galaxy AI and Apple Intelligence features. (Based on a teaser video Google put out about delayed Siri improvements, that last comparison sounds like one Google would welcome.) I'll certainly be keeping an ear out for how Google plans to maintain the Pixel's lead as the best AI phone.
Since Google switched to its own Tensor chips for the Pixel phones, battery performance has suffered. The Pixels don't last as long as their flagship counterparts from Apple and Samsung, and you won't find any Google devices troubling our best phone battery life list.
There have been signs of life on the battery front, though. The Pixel 9a released earlier this spring topped the 13-hour mark on our batter test, in which phones surf the web over cellular until they run out of power. That's 90 minutes better than the average phone and a marked improvement over recent Pixels.
There's talk that the Tensor G5 chip might put more of a focus on performance and power savings than past Tensor silicon, where the neural engine has gotten much of the attention. If the Pixel 10 models are able to outperform the battery life of their Pixel 9 counterparts, then that's another positive step forward for Google's phones.
The potential price cut for the Pixel 10 Pro Fold that we talked about represents the best possible development. On the opposite end of the scale, the Pixel 10 Pro XL may start at $1,199, according to reports, which is a $100 increase over the Pixel 9 Pro XL. The caveat is that older phone offered 128GB of storage, whereas the Pixel 10 Pro XL is expected to start with 256GB, taking some of the sting out its higher cost.
As for the Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro, it's unclear if there will be any change from the respective starting prices of $799 and $999 that their predecessors debuted with. But we'll know for certain this Wednesday when Google reveals all the remaining details about its newest phones.
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