The Pixel 10's Camera Might Actually Be Worse Than the Pixel 9's (for Some Users)

New smart phones are better than old smart phones, right? It should go without saying that upgrading is how you get faster processors, bigger screens, and better cameras. Except, it seems, in the case of the Pixel 10.

While Google announced today that it's finally adding a telephoto lens to the Pixel 10's base model, it also quietly snuck in that it's making the existing ultra wide and wide lenses worse. Depending on how you use your phone's camera, that could actually make the Pixel 10 a downgrade for you.

The Pixel 10's camera vs. the Pixel 9's

The regular Pixel 10's rear camera, on the surface, can finally play with the big boys. While three-lens rear cameras were previously for Pro models only, Google has given every model of the Pixel 10 a triple lens setup. However, that's come with some cuts to megapixel count for the base model. While that caveat is to be expected, it's unfortunately come at the cost of making the Pixel 10 not seem so shiny next to its predecessor-at least in one key area.

There are technically two camera downgrades here. First, the main lens, or the wide camera, is now 48 MP instead of 50 MP. However, it's also got a larger image sensor and larger aperture, and it's worth noting that the resolution loss here is small enough that those other changes could make up for it. I'll let you know if my opinion is any different once I get some hands-on time with the Pixel 10's camera, but for now, my bigger concern is with the ultra wide lens.

The Pixel 10's ultra wide lens, which lets you zoom out to take shots with a wider field of view, is now only 13 MP, as opposed to 48 MP on the Pixel 9. That's a much more egregious difference, and beyond the impact to quality, the new lens will also lower the max field-of-view you can get from 123 degrees to 120 degrees.

Is that sacrifice worth it for the new telephoto lens? At 10.8 MP, it's not as strong as the 48 MP telephoto lens on a Pixel 10 Pro, although it does give your phone 5x optical zoom as opposed to the 2x optical zoom on the Pixel 9, which means you can zoom in further before your phone has to start pulling in software tricks to compensate. So it all depends on how you take your photos.

What do ultra wide lenses do on your phone?

Have you ever needed to take a photo of something nearby, but you just couldn't fit the whole subject in frame, and there also wasn't enough room to physically move your camera further back? That's when an ultra wide lens might come in handy. Most phones are equipped with them these days, and you use them by clicking the 0.5x" zoom button.

That'll pull out the field of view to fit more of your subject in frame, but not all ultra wide lenses are made equal. I haven't gotten hands-on time with the Pixel 10's camera yet, but for the sake of comparison, here are a few ultra wide shots taken with the Pixel 9's 48 MP lens:

Ultra wide shot taken on Pixel 9 Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt Ultra wide shot of construction taken on Pixel 9 (with faces of pedestrians blocked out). Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

And a few shots taken with my iPhone 15 Pro's 12 MP Ultra Wide lens, which is the closest I have on hand to what you might expect from the Pixel 10 (although note that Apple's powerful post-processing might make up for some blemishes):

Ultra wide shot of garden on iPhone 15 Pro. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt Ultra wide shot of construction taken on iPhone 15 Pro Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

It's not apples to apples as to the kind of quality drop you might see on the Pixel 10 (I'll be sure to do a more direct comparison in my review when I've used the phone's camera myself), but if you're a certain type of shutterbug, I think you can already see the difference. As someone who needs to do a good deal of photography while stuck in crowds, it'd be a shame to lose that kind of extra fidelity when I'm in a pinch and can't move my camera itself. The Pixel 9's ultra wide lens is almost on par with its main camera, which is hard to beat for people who need it.

It could also be a loss for anyone who likes to take photos of landscapes, but doesn't want to bother with a panorama shot. Vacationers will be among those who'll want to double check on what they'll be missing out on before upgrading."

Does your phone need a telephoto lens?

It's not all doom and gloom, though, and Google isn't making these changes for no reason. With a telephoto lens on the standard Pixel 10, users will now be able to get a full optical zoom up to 5x, and an AI-assisted software zoom (called Super Res Zoom) up to 20x. That's a big improvement on the 2x optical zoom on the regular Pixel 9, and even that phone's 8x software zoom.

At least, it is on paper. 10.8MP is a relatively small resolution for a phone camera, so I'll need to go a few generations back to give you an idea of what it might look like. Here are some 2x optical zoom shots on my Pixel 9:

A 2x optical zoom shot on the Pixel 9. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt A 2x optical zoom shot on the Pixel 9 (with faces of pedestrians blocked out). Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

And similar shots at 3x optical zoom, again on my iPhone 15 Pro (which has a 12MP telephoto lens).

A 3x optical zoom shot on the iPhone 15 Pro. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt A 3x optical zoom shot on the iPhone 15 Pro. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

For good measure, here are some 8x Super Res Zoom" shots on the Pixel 9.

A Super Res Zoom shot on Pixel 9. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt A Super Res Zoom shot on Pixel 9. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

As opposed to a traditional digital zoom, which essentially just crops images, and can make them blurrier, Super Res Zoom uses machine learning to combine details from frames taken at multiple zoom levels to try to create a better shot. There's no AI image generation here, as in the newly announced Pro Res Zoom feature that the Pixel 10 Pro is getting-although it's worth acknowledging that detail here still isn't going to be quite as realistic as on an optical zoom, which relies purely on hardware.

Personally, I really can see the difference in the iPhone's 3x zoom, so if you take photos from far away a lot, the Pixel 10 could be a worthwhile upgrade for you.

Computational photography might save the day

While high resolution hardware is the most sure way to get a quality, realistic photo, computational photography can help. For instance, a smartphone might base most of a 0.5x image on data from the ultra wide sensor, but could pull in some data from the wide lens to help balance out detail. Google told me it's improved its sensor processing for the Pixel 10 and is confident most users won't notice a difference between the new and old ultra wide lenses, although I'll have to get some hands-on time with the new lens to form my own opinion.

While the Pixel 9 uses a 48 MP ultra wide lens, its photos are saved in a 12.5 MP format by default, meaning some computational photography is already at play for most users. Ultra wide shots on the Pixel 9 still use data from the 48MP lens, but will merge similar pixels to reduce file size. Unfortunately, this is the only way to get Pixel post-processing on the base Pixel 9, whereas the Pro version of that phone comes with a 50MP photo mode that doesn't compress photos.

Still, an image compressed down from 48MP is going to have more detail to work with than one shot at 13MP, and if you do want your Pixel 9 photos without compression, you can still download the RAW photo files and adjust them yourselves, for a complete 48 MP ultra wide look. I'm not an editing expert, so I've avoided doing that in this article, but I still think the Pixel 9's compressed ultra wide shots look better than the ones taken with my iPhone's 12 MP sensor, and it's good to know more talented photographers than can get high-res ultra wide shots on the Pixel 9.

Is the Pixel 10's camera a downgrade?

Whether the Pixel 10's camera will be a downgrade for you wholly depends on the kinds of photos you tend to take.

Do you zoom in a lot, to try to capture details from far away? Then the Pixel 10 is an upgrade, with more optical zoom distance.

But do you instead prefer a wider field of view, where you might be trying to fit more of a subject into a shot, as with a group photo or an interesting landscape? The Pixel 10 could actually be worse than the Pixel 9, especially if you're comfortable editing RAW photos.

I'd love to give you a solid yes" or no," but in this case, the answer depends on what kind of user you are. If you're a certain kind of Android-using photographer, don't assume that newer means better here.