Google Makes Its Pixel 10 Devices Dribble With AI Goodies: A Hard Jab To iPhones

When it comes to business in tech, speed isn’t just an advantage. Speed is survival.

In an ever-changing sphere, what matters most is how quickly a business can adapt and innovate. By observing trends and harnessing them to understand customer behavior, a company boosts its chances of leaving rivals in a trail of unforgiving business dust.

Google, the tech titan, was had one of its worst nightmares when it realized the potential of large language models following the rise of ChatGPT by OpenAI. Despite being a heavyweight, it was swift in changing focus by launching Gemini, to then embed the AI into its various products.

Now, with Gemini is part of the overall Android experiment.

And Google is showcasing how fast, and how far it can go with the technology with the launch of its Pixel 10 devices.

These devices are literally have AIs written all over them.

Part of 2025 Google’s Pixel lineup, Google reveals Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, and Pixel 10 Pro Fold.

These phones pick the pace of their predecessors, and introduce a bunch of performance upgrades, camera improvements, and more. And while the devices themselves are certainly interesting, Google is also using the line up to flaunt its AI leadership role.

While Google has been outfitting its Pixel phones with generative AI since its Pixel 7, but with Apple flailing and failing as it tries to gain traction in the AI race and its next-generation Siri not expected until 2026, Google is pushing Gemini as the marquee feature for the latest iteration of its smartphone line.

Leading the pack is 'Pro Res Zoom,' an upgrade from the long-standing Super Res Zoom.

Exclusive to the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL, it pushes zooming capabilities up to 100x, stabilizing shaky hands with a preview box and stitching together more than 200 frames for a crisp result. To fill in missing details, the feature uses generative AI, which picks up last year's Zoom Enhance feature.

Then, AI also gets into Google Photos, with a text-based editing feature. Here, users can now type commands like "erase the plastic bag" into the given chat box, an let the AI do its thing instantly.

On the communication front, Google is rethinking voicemail with 'Take a Message,' a feature that replaces traditional voicemail by recording callers, transcribing the audio, and even suggesting actionable follow-ups. For privacy, this feature is powered by Gemini Nano, which runs locally on the device.

Google also shrinks the language barrier with a new AI-powered translation tool that doesn’t just translate but recreates users' voice in another language, letting conversations feel more personal and authentic.

While it does have flaws here and there, but the feature can capture tone and cadence convincingly across supported languages like English, German, Japanese, and Spanish.

Then, the Journal app also gets some AI enhancements with AI-powered prompts and summaries, while Daily Hub serves up personalized reminders, events, and activity suggestions directly on the home screen.

One of the most notable additions among the aforementioned ones, is the 'Magic Cue' feature.

It resides only in the Google Messages app and can be interacted through the Gboard app, which is Google's own keyboard app. While it doesn't have its own app or interface, it gives users AI-powered canned responses to use.

To do this, it can specifically scan through users' personal information in various Google apps to find answers.

For example, if someone asks a user about flight information, Magic Cue can quickly fetch those details from Gmail, and a single tap is all you need to send it over. Another example, is when a friend asks what time is for a dinner reservation and where, Magic Cue can find it from users' saved calendar entry, and will provide the action to send the details in the Messages app.

Users can long-press Magic Cue cards to see where the information came from.

For privacy reasons, the feature is opt-in, and during initial setup, users must decide which apps they want to connect Magic Cue to.

Google isn’t just hyping Gemini in its smartphones, though. The company is also bringing the technology to its Pixel Watch.

The Pixel ecosystem extends further with the Pixel Watch 4, where a simple wrist raise now activates Gemini without a hot word. Google has fine-tuned the gesture detection to avoid false triggers, offering users more seamless interactions. Coming soon is a Gemini Live voice model that adapts not just in tone and speed but even in style.

Beyond the major highlights, Google is sprinkling in smaller but meaningful updates.

They include visual overlays in Gemini Live to better identify objects, smarter Add Me group photo stitching (even with pets), Auto Best Take that picks the perfect shot before you snap, an upgraded Recorder app for vocal tracks, and the inclusion of NotebookLM preinstalled for local, AI-assisted note-taking.

Altogether, the Pixel 10 lineup signals Google’s vision of smartphones as intelligent companions.

Google introduces these AI goodies to its Pixel 10 phones.

But since Google collaborates with other manufacturers, these features should land on other Android phones soon.

Most notably, Samsung, which has many bits of it powered by Google, is also developing its own Galaxy AI, a technology that has agentic AI traits.

These features should make Android a lot more interactive and powerful, and useful.

Apple’s Siri is supposed to provide similar functionality, but nothing has came out besides those that Apple demoed during the company’s WWDC event in 2024.