The 4 Best Android Phones of 2026
Top pick
The Pixel 10 runs on a fast new processor that enables a few actually useful AI features. It also has a brighter OLED screen, all-day battery life, and, in a first for the base-model flagship Pixel, a triple-lens rear-camera setup. Google promises security updates until 2032.
The Google Pixel 10 offers everything you could want in a premium Android smartphone. It looks just as high-end as the pricier Pixel phones, plus it has a brighter OLED display than on previous models and a new triple-camera setup — complete with a telephoto lens — that delivers excellent images in both daylight and low-light environments. It’s powered by Google’s newest custom Tensor chip, which enables a variety of useful AI features, as well as a bigger battery for all-day battery life. The Pixel 10 also supports the new Pixelsnap magnetic wireless-charging technology, which is Google’s version of Apple’s MagSafe. Google guarantees software updates for its latest Pixel phones until 2032.
The Pixel 10 resembles the more expensive Pixel Pro phones. The Pixel 10 is Google’s first base model to feature a triple-camera setup. It has the same oval rear-camera module, rounded corners, and flat sides as the Pro models, and it’s made of the same premium materials, with a glass back and a matte metal frame. (The 10’s glass is glossier than the Pro models’ matte back.) But the base Pixel 10 has more exciting color options than the Pro-level phones, including a fun, bright green-yellow hue.
The glass back looks and feels nice, but it requires extra care to keep the phone from slipping out of your hands. We recommend using a case to protect it from drops — in our testing, we tried Google’s new Pixelsnap case, which is made of soft silicone and is a lot more comfortable to hold for longer periods, especially when you’re using the phone one-handed. The camera cutout also has a raised lip to protect the camera bar when you put the phone down on a table or carry it in your bag.
Google’s latest chip powers several useful AI features. The Pixel 10’s new Tensor G5 processor and 12 GB of RAM provide a seamless experience. It’s a noticeable difference in comparison with our budget pick, the Google Pixel 9a, which has 8 GB of RAM and an older chip and feels slightly less snappy in comparison.
The Tensor G5 also powers several new AI features. In my testing, I was impressed specifically by the AI photography features. The Edit with Ask Photos feature, a tool that uses generative AI to edit your photos via prompts, was easy to use for removing unwanted items or swapping out backgrounds. It was also a great alternative to FaceTune, allowing me to touch up faces in photos with skin smoothing, under-eye shadow removal, and teeth whitening, all with one prompt. Add Me, a feature that uses a mix of AR and AI to merge two separate photos into a single image (for moments when you want to take a group shot with everyone included), now supports pets; that came in handy on a walk with a couple of friends and their dog, producing a realistic and natural-looking group shot. Camera Coach, an in-camera feature that walks you through snapping the best photo with step-by-step instructions, was also useful, as while I was taking a photo of a friend outside, it made suggestions like “Frame to include the tree canopy” or “Shoot from a lower angle to make the tree appear taller,” which made for a really nice shot. The feature is currently in beta, but I didn’t run into any issues.
The Pixel 10 also has more generally practical features. Take a Message, which transcribes voicemails for missed calls, was ideal when I missed a call from an important contact, as I was able to read their entire message from the drop-down notification screen rather than having to wait to listen to it later. Daily Hub (currently in beta), a personalized digest that shows weather, calendar reminders, and other relevant information based on your interests, was also useful. At a glance, it showed the latest scores from followed sports teams, showtimes for movies, and a curated list of articles on the latest tech news. It also incorporates Magic Cue, a new feature that uses AI to surface contextual suggestions based on your activity, so you’ll see reminders like upcoming flights or dinner reservations. When I tapped on Daily Hub to see a full view, I saw a summary of what to expect for the day, including upcoming meetings on my Google Calendar, along with reminders about important emails and text messages that included a confirmation for a dinner reservation, a notice from the apartment building about a rooftop closure, and an upcoming work event.
Although we didn’t use Voice Translate often, it’s a noteworthy and particularly impressive feature. You can enable it by tapping Call Assist > Voice Translate in the Phone app once your call is connected. From there, you can select the specific language the other person speaks and tap Done. You’ll then hear a voice notification that plays for each side in their language. Rather than using a generic AI voice, it translates what someone is saying in the listener’s language using the speaker’s real voice — incorporating their tone and emotion, too.
We used it to talk to an English-speaking friend in Russian, and it was both accurate and eerie to hear their voice “speak” a language they didn’t know. Since the voice is AI-generated, it didn’t sound exactly like them, but it came very close, and the feature accurately translated from English to Russian and vice versa. Using this feature requires a bit of patience, though: Since there’s a lag between translations, the result doesn’t feel as fast-paced as standard, free-flowing conversations do. Google says the feature is processed on-device, so the audio isn’t saved or shared. It currently supports translation from English, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish.
The Pixel phones continue to take the best photos. The Pixel 10 has a triple-rear-camera system consisting of a 48-megapixel wide lens, a 13-megapixel ultrawide lens, and a 10.8-megapixel 5x telephoto lens (with 10x optical-quality zoom and Super Res Zoom up to 20x). These sensors are smaller than the Pixel 9’s 50-megapixel wide lens and 48-megapixel ultrawide lens, and they’re the same cameras you can find on the Pixel 9a, sans the telephoto.
Although the lenses aren’t cutting-edge, the Pixel 10 makes up for that with software, and the Tensor G5 has an upgraded imaging signal processor for better on-device AI processing of photos and videos. In our tests the Pixel 10 delivered crisp shots both day and night — it was tough to tell the difference in comparison with images from the Pixel 9. Its photos were also comparable to those of the Pixel 9a, though we preferred the image processing on the Pixel 10: Each photo delivered a nice balance of color temperature, saturation, and detail, so we didn’t have to edit them before sharing, whereas photos from the Pixel 9a required such tweaks.
But unlike the Pixel 9 and 9a, the Pixel 10 has a 5x telephoto lens that also works well. When we used Super Res Zoom — a combination of optical and AI-enhanced digital zoom — at 20x on buildings and signs, it captured crisp, clean images without losing too much detail. This feature is not as impressive as the more powerful Pro Res Zoom on the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL, but it gets the job done.
It has a bigger battery than the Pixel 9 and offers all-day battery life. The Pixel 10 has a 4,970 mAh battery, an increase from the 4,700 mAh battery in the Pixel 9. We didn’t hit Google’s claimed 30-hour battery life — or even half that — but it still lasted a full day. After unplugging the phone at around 10 a.m., we made a few 10-minute phone calls, sent texts through the Messages app and Telegram, scrolled through Instagram and TikTok throughout the day, watched a 20-minute YouTube video, played Alto’s Odyssey for 30 minutes, and still had about 17% battery left by midnight.
It has a slightly brighter display. The Pixel 10’s screen is the same as that of its predecessor, at 6.3 inches with 1080×2424 resolution and a 60 Hz to 120 Hz refresh rate. The colors look vibrant, and scrolling through content felt smooth in our tests. But the display is brighter this time around, with 3,000 nits of maximum outdoor brightness — an increase from the 2,700 nits on the Pixel 9.
It comes with support for Google’s Pixelsnap and Qi2 wireless charging. The Pixel 10 supports Pixelsnap, Google’s new wireless-charging technology, which allows you to attach accessories magnetically to the rear of the device. You can choose from Google’s own lineup of accessories (including the $40 Pixelsnap Charger, $70 Pixelsnap Charger with Stand, $30 Pixelsnap Ring Stand, and $50 Pixelsnap Case) or third-party accessories, including those designed for Apple MagSafe–supported devices.
We used the Pixel 10 with a mix of both, including the Pixelsnap Case and the Pixelsnap Charger with Stand. Note that you don’t need a case to magnetically attach accessories, since the technology is built into the phone itself, but if you want to use a third-party case instead, it should support either Pixelsnap or MagSafe; otherwise, it might be too thick for you to securely attach accessories to the magnets.
Although Pixelsnap isn’t a reason to buy the Pixel 10, it’s a nice perk. We used it with MagSafe accessories we already owned, such as a PopSocket, a wallet, and the mount in our car, all of which worked just as well with the Pixel 10 as they did with an iPhone. We also liked using the Pixelsnap stand, which comes with a detachable charging puck to take with you on the go. We mainly used the stand at a desk to charge the phone throughout the day while keeping an eye on notifications. But it also allows your phone to double as a smart display or digital photo frame.
All Pixel 10 phones will get updates until 2032. As with the Pixel 9 series, Google’s latest lineup will receive security upgrades, Android updates, and new Pixel features for the next seven years.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
It has a smaller battery than the Pixel 9a. Interestingly enough, Google reserved its bigger, 5,100 mAh battery for its budget phone, the Pixel 9a. That battery lasted us a couple of hours longer than the battery in the newest Pixel: We averaged a little over 15 hours on the Pixel 9a versus about 12 hours on the Pixel 10.
Magic Cue, a marquee AI feature, isn’t quite ready for prime time. We were particularly excited to use Google’s new Magic Cue feature, which provides contextual suggestions based on what’s on your screen. If a friend texts you about an upcoming house party, for example, you’ll see the address populate above the keyboard; if you’re calling an airline, you’ll see upcoming flight details. The feature takes a bit of time to calibrate when you first set up your phone. Since Magic Cue is processing information on your device, it prioritizes and schedules when it extracts the backlog of information — emails, texts, calendar invites — that is already on your phone, so it may take a bit of time before you start to see contextual suggestions automatically appear. Google says it should take at least 24 hours, but the process can be expedited when the Pixel is charging, idle, and connected to Wi-Fi. Once it’s done processing the backlog, Magic Cue should begin to work instantaneously, with the ability to process and make suggestions based on new or recent information a lot quicker.
The feature worked inconsistently throughout my week of testing. When a friend sent a reminder to pick up snacks on the way to their apartment, Magic Cue properly triggered the Keep icon, which automatically prompted me to create a reminder in the app; another friend texted me for a specific phone number in our contacts, and it automatically surfaced above the keyboard. When I opened Google Maps, it suggested the restaurant I had made a reservation for and also surfaced restaurants I had previously viewed on Eater. It struggled with calendar events, though — since Google Calendar was connected to both my personal and work calendars on our review unit, it had difficulty differentiating between the two. As a result, events wouldn’t appear as suggestions in the Messages app whenever someone asked me for details on a party or meeting. Aside from that, the feature worked smoothly, with frequent suggestions appearing in Messages for Keep notes and specific contacts. But since I’ve been using the phone for only a short period of time, it’s technically still processing a backlog of information. We plan to continue testing the feature and will update this review with additional impressions in the coming weeks.
Video quality remains underwhelming. Even though the Pixel 10 has a 48-megapixel main camera sensor, video recordings looked clear but overexposed even in various lighting conditions. We preferred using the Pixel 10 Pro to shoot video.
