This Pixel 10 Pro camera feature sets a high bar for the iPhone 17 Pro to beat

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The Google Pixel 10’s new Professional Res Zoom makes use of AI to make 100X zoom images much more useable.
• Early comparability photographs with the Galaxy S25 Extremely have the Google cellphone forward.
• The ball is in Apple’s courtroom to ship a long-distance zoom on the iPhone 17 Professional that is simply as aggressive.

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I like zoom images, and I am thrilled to see Google utilizing AI to raise zoom images on smartphones within the new Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL.

I take a ton of images on smartphones — over 100,000 photographs on iPhone and Android — and through the years, lots of them have change into tough to inform aside from the skilled images I shoot on Sony mirrorless cameras. However the cellphone photographs that also do not fairly measure up — and the place I nonetheless normally need to take out a giant digicam — are the long-distance zoom photographs. 

With the brand new Pixel 10 Professional and Pixel 10 Professional XL, Google is upgrading its Professional Res Zoom to seize a lot better element through the use of a mix of the brand new Tensor G5 chip and what Google calls its “largest AI mannequin ever used on a Pixel Digicam.” 

Additionally: Everything announced at Made by Google 2025: Pixel 10 Pro, Fold, Watch 4, and more

That is an impressive use of generative AI. Google characterizes it as an “all-new generative imaging mannequin to intelligently get well and refine intricate particulars” and claims that it could possibly fill in lots of particulars in zoom photographs as much as 100x. 

If this works, it will be an ideal step ahead for zoom captures on telephones. And the early indications are that it is fairly good. ZDNET’s Kerry Wan has already had the prospect to test the Pixel 10 Pro a bit bit, and beneath is a comparison he did of the brand new Pixel 10 Professional zoom versus the Samsung Galaxy 25 Extremely zoom on the similar distance. The Pixel model is way more usable and would not look grainy and pixelated.

I have been testing Samsung’s model of its 100x “Area Zoom” for the reason that Galaxy S20 Extremely, and I at present use the S24 Extremely’s zoom regularly because it’s my Android each day driver and my enterprise cellphone. Nonetheless, I solely use the 5x and 10x zoom lenses on the S24 Extremely — and I solely use the 5x zoom lens on iPhone 16 Professional Max. When you transcend these focal lengths, the pictures on each telephones get very pixelated and unusable — at the very least for the form of crisp, professional-looking images that I am making an attempt to create. 

The photograph beneath exhibits a comparability of the zoom high quality of the S24 Extremely versus the iPhone 16 Professional Max that I took throughout a night in New York.

For the photographers on the market, the 5x zoom on the iPhone 16 Professional Max is the equal of a few 120mm focal size on a full-frame digicam, and the 10x zoom on the Samsung S24 Extremely is the equal of a few 200 mm focal size on a full-frame digicam. 

Additionally: I went hands-on with every Google Pixel 10 model – and was surprised by the one I loved most

So the 100x zoom that Google is speaking about for the Professional Res Zoom on the Pixel 10 Professional fashions is an extended distance than any present commonplace lens that exists for knowledgeable full-frame digicam. So if Google could make these images usable — not like the present most digital zooms on Samsung, iPhone, and different smartphones — then it will likely be giving its cellphone a functionality that not solely different telephones haven’t got, however skilled cameras cannot match both. 

This is the instance that Google confirmed of the 100x zoom in motion in the course of the launch occasion for the brand new Pixel {hardware}. 

That is fairly spectacular, and in the end fairly usable — doubtlessly with a bit little bit of post-processing. Let’s needless to say that is clearly a daytime shot with some good cloud cowl. I would wish to see how nicely the Pixel’s new Professional Res Zoom holds up in low mild and imperfect lighting situations. And I am going to get my likelihood quickly as a result of I’ll be testing it and reporting again the outcomes right here on ZDNET and on my Instagram. 

Additionally: Google’s new AI tool makes photo editing as easy as asking – and Pixel 10 gets it first

Even when Google’s Professional Res Zoom is not excellent at 100x, if it could possibly successfully use generative AI to make digital zoom images a extra viable possibility for taking high-quality images, then it will likely be an enormous win. 

It additionally makes me excited to see if Apple is engaged on one thing comparable in AI for its zoom images when it declares the iPhone 17 Professional fashions in September — as a result of the one firm that may at present compete with Google on computational images is Apple.