Google Pixel 10 Pro
A limited upgrade over last year’s model, but the new Pixel standard-bearer barely puts a foot wrong
SCORE
PRICE 256GB,
£916 (£1,099 inc VAT)
from
store.google.com
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If you’re a PC Pro Podcast listener, you might have heard me proposing the Pixel 10 Pro as Hot Hardware of the Week. You’ll also have heard me being decisively voted down by a sceptical audience. I’m here now to tell you why the listeners were right – but why I still think it’s a great phone. I speak from experience, having bought the Pixel 10 Pro on launch day as an upgrade from my trusty Pixel 7 Pro (see issue 339, p72). The new phone has some definite attractions if you’re coming from a handset released back in the heyday of Liz Truss. For one thing, the physical design is completely different; the new format was introduced last year with the Pixel 9 Pro (see issue 362, p58), but it will still be a big change for anybody who’s been using an older Pixel. It has a strikingly similar appearance to the iPhone 16 Pro (see issue 363, p70), to the extent that my wife and I keep picking up one another’s phones – but that’s another way of saying it’s one of the most premium-feeling, beautiful-looking handsets on the market. It’s just a shame the colour options are so dull, with Obsidian, Moonstone, Porcelain and Jade finishes basically translating to black, grey, off-white and a slightly sickly pale green.
Recent Pixel Pro models no longer come with an extra large screen; if 6.3in isn’t enough you’ll need to pay at least £1,199 for the 256GB Pixel Pro XL and its 6.8in panel. But while the 10 Pro’s display is of an ordinary size, it’s extraordinarily bright, with a peak of 3,300cd/m2 . It literally outshines rivals such as the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (2,600cd/m2 ) and the iPhone 16 Pro (2,000cd/m2 ), and even beats the new iPhone 17 Pro, which tops out at 3,000cd/m2 . This isn’t something you notice every day – the phone sensibly keeps itself at a moderate setting when you’re sitting around the house – but already a few times I’ve been out on the blazing sun, thinking “gee, it would be nice to check my phone right now”, and to my amazement have found it perfectly legible.