Compare the iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Google Pixel 10 Pro in design, display, performance, and camera. Find out which flagship is the better choice in 2025
Google Pixel 10 Pro vs iPhone 16 Pro: A Detailed Comparison
Pixel 10 Pro is the direct attempt of Google to attack Apple’s market share, this phone is the competitor of iPhone 16 Pro and is also priced very similarly. Let us see the detailed comparison between the Google pixel 10 pro vs iPhone 16 Pro. Let's get started!
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 10 Pro Design Comparison
Now, Coming to the Design specs, Pixel 10 Pro also now supports Qi2 magnetic accessories without the need to use an extra case. which made the phone heavier. The Pixel is 8 grams heavier than the iPhone though.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 10 Pro Display Comparison
The screen is very similar, they are both 120Hz, 6.3-inch LTPO displays, meaning the refresh rate is variable. And also this generation Pixel did increase the PWM with a feature called Sensitive Eye and now they are both 480Hz, which is a move in the right direction.
Basically, higher PWM means the phone flickers less and that means less headache and eye strain.
The main difference on the display is that the iPhone has Face ID and Dynamic Island. while the Pixel is using an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. Of course, you can also use Face ID on Google and it works very well.
If you’re also curious about how the iPhone 16 stacks up against other Android flagships, check out our detailed iPhone 16 vs OnePlus 13s comparison
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 10 Pro Camera Comparison
The Pixel 10 Pro also has the classic camera bump of Pixel phones with a triple camera setup similar to iPhone 16 Pro. The main camera of the phones is on the same level spec-wise, the iPhone has a slightly larger sensor but the Pixel has a lower f-stop, that means they get a similar amount of light.
While capturing pictures, they are similar in quality but the color science is a bit different. iPhone has a bit more than the Pixel. Also, I find Pixel to be usually a bit better at picking the right balance. But also sometimes it doesn’t nail processing, the iPhone here does a better job at retaining the highlights.
For video, the iPhone is more on white balance while the Pixel is slightly more towards magenta. I also do find Pixel doing a bit too much processing overall, the video is usually a bit sharper but not the kind of sharpness that I personally like. That can look good in certain situations though.
Both phones have a five-times telephoto lens. The telephoto lens is where the Pixel 10 Pro beats the iPhone 16 Pro in specs, the pixel count is higher which is very useful for zoom pictures and cropping, and also the sensor size is larger
The Pixel also has a crazy 100X zoom now that is using Generative AI to reconstruct the image. The result can be super nice if you are taking a picture of buildings. But it’s not without problems.
The problem is that whenever you take a picture of anything with zoom now you have to always wonder if the picture is real. And It is heavily modified picture that merely reflects reality based on AI hallucination.
The selfie camera of the Pixel 10 Pro is wider which is always something I prefer, especially for group pictures.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 10 Pro Ultrawide Camera Compare
The ultrawide camera of both of them is 48MP, with the difference that the Pixel here has a lower f-stop meaning you get more light into the sensor. The picture here better on the Pixel. Both of them can also take macro shots with the ultrawide camera and here the iPhone picture is more vivid and warmer.
Pixel having a better process overall. Especially if we punch into the dome I find iPhone to be overprocessed and oversharpened. The Pixel photos are also heavily processed but they still are slightly on the more natural side.
On zoom pictures at night, the reality was something in between them and neither really nailed the colors. The same in this ultrawide at night, the Pixel is too cold and iPhone is too warm. For video processing at night the iPhone is simply doing a better job here, the video is less shaky and much more usable than the Pixel one.
Overall I do think the iPhone is doing a better job in the video department and it also has 120FPS plus LOG shooting, the Pixel does 8K upscaling though but for that you should upload your videos to the cloud.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 10 Pro Performance Compare
While coming to the Performance, the Pixel phones were behind, and Google tried to bump up the performance of its phone by making a better architecture and also producing its chipsets by TSMC and not Samsung Foundry. It’s basically where Apple and Qualcomm produce their chipsets.
In Geekbench and in single core iPhone got around 3500 while Pixel was around 2200. For multicore the iPhone was around 8900 while Pixel was around 6100. Here iPhone got a score of 4800 while Pixel got 3200, which means iPhone is around 50% more powerful in gaming.
Overall the Pixel 10 Pro is smooth but just know that it’s not the same level as the iPhone 16 Pro.
Pixel 10 Pro Vs iPhone 16 Pro Battery Compare
The battery capacity of the Pixel is 4870 mAh while the iPhone is 3582. That’s a big difference but in real life the Pixel doesn’t give you much more battery. So the difference is not mind-blowing as in the real life usage.
Regarding durability, both should be durable enough. But the EU rating for Pixel 10 Pro is 270 falls and it’s class B, while the iPhone is 90 falls and is categorized as class C. Both are also IP68.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 10 Pro Software Comparison
Pixel 10 Pro promises 7 years of software updates and iPhone 5–6 years, it is going to be important 5 years down the line when the operating systems and animations will inevitably get heavier.
We can’t talk about Pixel and iPhone without mentioning Android vs iOS. The Pixel 10 series is launched with Android 16 Material Expressive while iPhone 16 Pro is running iOS 26 Liquid Glass beta.
Both operating systems got a major UI real and now they actually look quite different. The iOS has these glass-style icons. If you go to the quick settings everything is transparent. It does, in my opinion, create a little bit of a usability issue though. The theory is that Apple is preparing us for the era of augmented reality and Apple Vision Pro.
I personally prefer how Android looks right now but it’s just my personal preference. The Pixel quick settings is also now transparent and when you interact with the icons or notifications you get some nice haptic feedback and some kind of physics elements are also implemented.
Both are trying to give a similar set of functions. For example, if you hold the power button on Pixel you connect to Gemini, while on iPhone Apple Intelligence is gonna power up. Another example, Google added this circle-to-search function where you can circle around anything and search for that. Apple added something similar where you can take a screenshot of anything and then scratch over the object and get what you are looking for.
But overall Google is always a step ahead. An example, in Google Photos you get a crazy amount of editing options using AI. You can also easily just select any object and remove it from the scene, whereas for Apple the feature is very clunky and you’re probably better off using another app.
Conclusion
So overall, from my perspective hardware-wise the phones are almost identical. Pixel 10 Pro has a slightly better camera setup while iPhone is slightly lighter and has a Dynamic Island, it also has a camera button, and an action button. And the choice boils down to Android vs iOS.
I do say though that I prefer Android every single day because of better navigation, things like the universal back gesture, and also clipboard when I’m copy-pasting things into chat.
But I also like iPhone after so many years and how the phone still feels smooth despite running iOS 26 on it.
I would say you can’t go wrong with either of the phones and maybe pick the operating system you are more comfortable with. If you also wanna save a bit of money you can maybe try Pixel 10 or Galaxy S25 instead.
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