Google tries to trump iPhone launch with AI-powered Pixel 10 range

Video In a celebrity-studded launch event on Wednesday, Google showed off its Pixel 10 hardware, including four smartphones, an updated smartwatch, and earbuds. Unsurprisingly, every gadget comes with a heavy dose of AI.

It's been nearly nine years since Google unveiled its first Pixel phone in an attempt to challenge Apple in the premium handset market, and the Chocolate Factory has priced and specced the Pixel 10 range accordingly. The base spec Pixel 10 goes for $799, the Pixel 10 Pro for $999, the Pro XL for $1,199, and the foldable Pro Fold clocks in at $1,799, with the latter shipping on October 9 compared to August 28 for the rest of the range.

In hardware terms, Google's big selling point is its Tensor G5 chip that's optimized for AI workloads. The phones come with 12GB of RAM for the 10 and 16GB for the other handsets. Google uses all this memory and processing power to drive a host of AI features, most notably its Magic Cue system, which trawls through your data, from Gmail, Calendar, Screenshots, and Messages, so that you don't have to.

As shown at Wednesday's Made by Google event, which was hosted by Jimmy Fallon, Cue uses its Gemini Nano AI engine to pop up suggestions based on conversations. In one demo, someone asked Fallon where he was having dinner tonight in a chat and Cue searched through and popped up the location. For business, Cue should also work for meetings and presentations.

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Google has purposely set up Cue to just use information on the handset itself, which would help with corporate data privacy rules. Overall the system looks fairly impressive, particularly in searching through large volumes of email or pictures, but we'll see once the phones actually start shipping.

A potentially useful AI feature is Voice Translate. The Tensor-powered system will translate between English and French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, or Swedish in near real time. It will also convey the speaker's tone and inflection, while providing a text transcript. The demo worked well, albeit with a slight pause, but this could be a real boon for international callers.

If you want extra AI features, such as the ability to automatically generate emails, documents, slides and videos, you'll have to pay $20 a month extra. All handsets, with the exception of the basic Pixel 10, come with one year's free subscription.

Google has also updated Voicemail so that the Nano system will ask callers if it can take a message if you don't answer the call. There's a new Daily Hub function that, depending on how you set it up, will present a single page containing scheduled appointments and ancillary information like weather, along with suggestions based on your search history.

For the first time, Google has added a 5x telephoto camera to all the handsets and the Chocolate Factory has also roped AI in here too, with a Gemini-powered Camera Coach that offers tips on taking better pictures and cleaning them up if you make mistakes. It'll also make edits using voice prompts and use software-enabled zoom functions for the lens.

Another new addition is wireless charging, using the Qi-2 standard that's become the de facto standard. The handsets have a magnetic holder that can handle 15W charging (25W for the Pro XL) and Google has slightly increased battery sizes of its handsets, although we'll see if the new AI capabilities will cut into usage time.

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In addition to the four phones, there's a revamped Pixel Watch 4 starting at $349, now touting an AI-powered personal assistant and a broader partnership with Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry, signed on as a "performance advisor."

There are also two new Pixel Buds for in-ear listening, priced at $129 and $229, depending on what features you want. These will get AI features such as Adaptive Audio, which adjusts the volume based on your environment.

How big a draw this AI snazziness will be is uncertain, but Google clearly wanted to make a big deal out of all its features before the next iPhone iteration comes along. Apple has been lagging somewhat in this area for its handsets, with the AI-powered Siri assistant delayed until 2026 at the earliest, something Google was keen to bring up without naming Cupertino directly.

The Pixel brand still only accounts for 3 percent of the US smartphone market, according to the latest analyst figures, but those who do have one (including at least two hacks here at The Register) tend to like them. Being the first in line for security updates has definite advantages, but while sales grew 13 percent year over year in the last quarter, it's still nowhere near challenging the big three phone sellers in America - Apple, Samsung, and Motorola, respectively. ®