Comparing Google Pixel 10 vs. Samsung Galaxy S25

The wait is over. We now know everything we need to know about the Google Pixel 10, which means it's time to do some comparin'.

Google bared all during its Made by Google event, giving us a look at specs and features for its latest batch of flagship smartphones. Of course, this comes several months after Samsung did the same thing with the Galaxy S25 line. I bet you know what's coming next.

That's right — we're putting these base models head to head. Keep in mind we've just begun testing the new Pixel 10 series, so we'll have more insights to share soon.

How do these two Android titans stack up to one another?

Pixel 10 vs. Galaxy S25: Price

Our first category is probably going to be the shortest and easiest one to litigate. Both of these phones start at $799.

See? That was easy. Let's move on.

Design

As far as design is concerned, both of these phones...basically just look like smartphones. However, Google and Samsung do have somewhat distinct visual languages for their phones, and both the Pixel 10 and Galaxy S25 carry forward what each brand had been doing in years prior.

In other words, their rear camera arrays look different. Samsung's is vertically oriented, with all three lenses stacked on top of one another, free from any kind of boxed in camera bump. Google's is the total opposite; three lenses housed in a horizontally oriented camera bar that prevents the phone from sitting flush on a flat surface. This is ultimately a matter of personal preference, though admittedly the Google camera bar looks more futuristic, if that's your thing.

As for colors, Samsung has more options than Google. The Galaxy S25 comes in seven colors: Navy, Mint, Icy Blue, Silver Shadow, Blueblack, Coralred, and Pinkgold. It should be noted that the latter three options are online exclusives. As for Pixel 10, you just get four choices: Indigo, Frost, Lemongrass, and Obsidian.

Specs

Here are how the basic specs for the Google Pixel 10 look:

• 6.3-inch display with 1080x2424 resolution and adaptive 60-120Hz refresh rate

• Google Tensor G5 chip

• 4,970mAh battery promising 30+ hours of life

• 12GB RAM

• 128GB/256GB storage

And here are the equivalent specs on Galaxy S25:

• 6.2-inch display with 1080x2340 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate

• Snapdragon 8 Elite chip

• 4,000mAh battery

• 12GB RAM

• 128GB/256GB/512GB storage

To put that into layman's terms, both phones come with very similar displays and the same amount of RAM. However, things diverge from there. The two phones use entirely different processors, but until the Pixel 10 is actually out there in public (we've just begun our internal testing process), it's hard to say which one is better right now, both in terms of everyday performance and benchmark scores. In the past, Snapdragon chips have had better benchmarks than Tensor, but the actual day-to-day usability has been similar enough to more or less negate that.

Samsung's phone also has a 512GB storage option if you're willing to spend more money. Google does not offer that much storage on Pixel 10, though Google has its own cloud storage service. Battery life is also going to be something to watch as the Pixel 10 rolls out publicly, as Google's phone has a significantly larger cell inside of it than Samsung's handset. Whether or not that translates into substantially better battery life is unclear at this point, but it's definitely worth keeping an eye on.

AI features

It would take forever to outline every single little AI feature that both of these phones have, but put simply, Google's newest handset did a lot to catch up to Samsung.

For starters, Samsung already had live language translation during phone calls, as well as a personalized daily hub featuring your schedule, any tasks you need to complete during that day, the weather forecast, and news you can use. Pixel 10 introduced very similar (or basically exactly the same) features, but with different names. Both phones are also compatible with Gemini Live, if you like talking to your phone as if it's a person. We should note that Google's live translation feature samples your voice, something other mobile translation tools can't yet do.

There are also suites of photo editing and image generation software to mess around with on both devices. For what it's worth, Google's seem a bit more comprehensive. Both phones have the ability to generatively edit photos by highlighting objects and moving them around to the user's liking, or even adding things that didn't exist to the photos. You can tune out unwanted audio in videos on both devices, too.

Pixel 10 introduces text-based photo editing, in case your ability to describe what you want is better than your ability to actually make the edits yourself. Pixel 10's Camera Coach also uses AI to help users compose better photographs, though it remains to be seen how well this works. As far as I can tell, Samsung's phone doesn't have equivalent features to these just yet.

On balance, Google gets the edge in terms of AI, which shouldn't be a surprise, as Google has its own AI models. If you opt for the Pixel 10 Pro, Pro XL, or Pro Fold, you'll also get a free year of Google's AI Pro plan, which is not available with the base Pixel 10. So, if you really care about AI, you may be happier with the Pixel 10 Pro anyway.

Cameras

As for cameras, this is an area where Samsung would've had a big advantage, had Google not made one major change to the base Pixel 10 this year. Here are the Pixel 10's camera specs:

• Rear cameras: 48MP wide, 13MP ultrawide, 10.8MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom and Super Res Zoom up to 20x

• Front camera: 10.5MP

And here's how the Galaxy S25 compares:

• Rear cameras: 50MP wide, 10MP ultrawide, 12MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom and digital zoom up to 30x

• Front camera: 12MP

While there are minor differences to consider in terms of megapixel counts, these are two pretty similar camera arrays on the surface. The big advantage Samsung would have had prior to this year is the presence of a third telephoto lens on the back. Unfortunately for Samsung, Google added one this year and its optical zoom is better on paper. In the past, I've had much better luck with zoom lenses on Pixel phones than Samsung phones, for whatever that's worth.

Pixel phones in general tend to be excellent for photography, in my experience. Or, at least the kind of photography that people like me who aren't good at taking photos like to do, such as snapping pics of random cats I meet on the street.