I am a real Google Pixel fanatic.
As a lot as I get pleasure from utilizing units from different smartphone manufacturers, together with telephones with 10x optical zoom or OnePlus units with large batteries, I’ve discovered myself returning to the Google Pixel 10 Professional as my day by day driver over the previous few months.
It isn’t as a result of the Pixel 10 Professional is the proper Android smartphone, however due to the general expertise it has delivered these days. The Pixel expertise has felt shut to finish, virtually proper there.
However, as with each Android smartphone maker, there are nonetheless many points with the lineup that want fixing.
Google could be very near nailing the Pixel expertise for me and turning me right into a full-fledged Pixel loyalist, however there are nonetheless a number of issues the corporate wants to deal with heading into 2026 that would make it a a lot stronger contender subsequent 12 months.
This Pixel does issues in another way
Flagship Pixels want louder and better-tuned audio system
Audio high quality nonetheless feels behind rivals when watching content material
There are at all times some intangibles we discuss when discussing the smartphone expertise, and audio system are often one in every of them.
Whereas most smartphone opinions concentrate on show high quality, efficiency, battery life, charging, and cameras, speaker efficiency usually will get missed.
I’ve used a whole lot of flagship smartphones this 12 months, and amongst all of them, the Pixel 10 Professional has a number of the weakest audio system. They don’t seem to be outright horrible, however for a $1,000 smartphone, you positively anticipate one thing higher.
Virtually each different telephone on this value vary, together with the iPhone 17 Professional Max, Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely, and even the OnePlus 15, gives noticeably higher audio system than the Pixel 10 Professional.
The Pixel 10 Professional audio system sound muffled and flat, and the audio appears like it’s coming from a really small supply, which limits depth.
One factor I actually hope Google improves within the Pixel 11 sequence is speaker high quality, with louder output, clearer sound, and higher audio depth.
Pixel digicam processing feels protected and predictable now
Google wants to try its rivals
Within the Android world, Google Pixel smartphones are identified for his or her digicam processing and post-capture AI work.
Once you take a photograph on a Pixel telephone, you typically know what to anticipate, no matter lighting or location. Low mild, harsh mild, or evening pictures often lead to evenly lit photos with natural-looking colours and restrained processing.
Nonetheless, that consistency has began to really feel a bit boring in 2025.
Different smartphone manufacturers, particularly Chinese language rivals like Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi, have taken greater dangers with superior digicam {hardware}, modular digicam attachments, and extra aggressive processing enhancements.
Because of this, Google’s digicam expertise has begun to really feel considerably stagnant. That is one thing Google wants to deal with in 2026.
Whether or not Google tackles it by transforming the digicam pipeline from the bottom up or by providing customers extra customization choices, comparable to coloration profiles or stronger management over shadows and highlights, that is one thing that wants consideration.
Google wants a stronger mid-range telephone and new type components
Pixels ought to experiment extra as a substitute of enjoying it protected yearly
Whereas 2025 was a powerful 12 months for Google in catching as much as different flagships with the Pixel 10 sequence, the corporate’s mid-range A-series lineup fell a bit behind.
I preferred the design route and general strategy of the Pixel 8a in 2024, which delivered a compact mid-range telephone whereas intently mirroring the flagship Pixel 8 sequence.
The Pixel 9a, nevertheless, went in a totally completely different route. The Pixel 9a debuted with an especially minimal design, dropping the digicam bar id that outlined Pixel telephones.
Certain, it gives a big battery at an aggressive value, however Google eliminated a lot of the system’s appeal.
Different elements additionally didn’t really feel like significant upgrades in comparison with competing telephones in the identical value vary.
I believe Google must rethink and revamp its mid-range smartphones in 2026.
The Pixel A-series ought to supply extra than simply an entry-level Pixel expertise, develop a transparent id of its personal, and enhance in key areas, particularly processor and show.
That stated, it’s beginning to appear to be the Pixel 10a could supply largely the identical expertise we noticed with the Pixel 9a this 12 months.
It is time for a Google Pixel Flip
Past the A-series, Google must experiment with new type components in 2026.
The corporate has already performed a strong job with book-style foldables in 2025 with the Pixel 10 Professional Fold, providing IP68 mud and water-resistance, the newest Tensor chipset, and software program optimized for foldable screens.
Now, Google must department out additional.
I might like to see a Motorola Razr-style flip telephone from Google that runs inventory Android and delivers Pixel-level digicam processing.
Software program bugs and long-standing points want actual fixing
Nice options imply little when primary reliability nonetheless feels inconsistent
One of many largest points with Google Pixel smartphones is that you just by no means fairly know if the expertise will stay the identical from one week to the subsequent.
Pixel telephones have earned a fame for fixing issues that aren’t damaged, which regularly results in a fragmented and inconsistent expertise for customers.
For instance, customers have just lately reported that some Pixel units fail to avoid wasting pictures when pictures are taken in fast succession. In these instances, photos get caught in a processing loop and are ultimately discarded, by no means being written to the file system.
I’ve by no means heard of something like this taking place on different smartphones, but many Pixel customers have run into this problem.
This is only one instance of the bugs Pixel customers have encountered just lately.
There are numerous different points reported regularly that, even when Google ultimately fixes them, mustn’t exist within the first place if the corporate desires to be taken severely as a smartphone model.
Google must make main adjustments to the way it develops and assessments software program on Pixel telephones. Google wants to know that the fame the iPhone enjoys at this time is just not on {hardware} alone, however on years of steady, constant software program that customers can belief.
Except Google addresses this at a foundational degree, what it’s doing now’s merely not sustainable heading into 2026.
Tensor should enhance if Google desires the Pixel lineup to be taken severely
Efficiency and effectivity gaps have gotten more durable to excuse now
We are saying this yearly, however in 2025 it feels extra true than ever. Google severely must ramp up its work on Tensor chipsets if it desires to be taken severely as a smartphone model.
The shift to TSMC for the Tensor G5 on the Pixel 10 sequence delivered some enhancements, with higher mobile reception and decreased heating in comparison with earlier generations.
Nonetheless, the efficiency numbers the Pixel 10 sequence places out nonetheless fall wanting different $1,000 flagship telephones.
Pixel telephones additionally can’t be relied on for gaming in the identical method as competing units, and there are ongoing day-to-day points that customers proceed to report, together with normal sluggishness.
Google has tried to do what it does finest: fixing {hardware} shortcomings by way of software program. Nonetheless, 5 generations in, it’s clear this has develop into a hardware-level drawback.
I hope the Tensor chip within the Pixel 11 brings significant efficiency good points and at last catches as much as Qualcomm and MediaTek. If not, it’s price asking why Google doesn’t merely use chipsets from these firms as a substitute?
My Pixel want listing for 2026
That is my Google Pixel want listing for 2026, and I can not wait to see how Google builds on the Pixel 10 legacy subsequent 12 months. As for manufacturers like Samsung, my colleagues assume it is time for the Galaxy Be aware to make a comeback.
- SoC
-
Google Tensor G5
- RAM
-
16GB
- Storage
-
128 GB / 256 GB / 512 GB with Zoned UFS / 1 TB with Zoned UFS
- Battery
-
4870mAh
- Working System
-
Android 16
Google’s newest Professional Pixel packs a quicker but environment friendly Tensor G5 chip, an upgraded ISP, and a brighter show. Plus, an array of recent AI options that make it probably the greatest Android telephones to launch in 2025.