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 photographs much more useable.
• Early comparability pictures with the Galaxy S25 Extremely have the Google telephone 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 really like zoom pictures, and I am thrilled to see Google utilizing AI to raise zoom pictures on smartphones within the new Pixel 10 Professional and Pixel 10 Professional XL.

I take a ton of photographs on smartphones — over 100,000 pictures on iPhone and Android — and through the years, quite a lot of them have turn out to be tough to inform aside from the skilled photographs I shoot on Sony mirrorless cameras. However the telephone pictures that also do not fairly measure up — and the place I nonetheless often need to take out a giant digital camera — are the long-distance zoom pictures. 

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 mixture of the brand new Tensor G5 chip and what Google calls its “largest AI mannequin ever used on a Pixel Digicam.” 

Additionally: The whole lot introduced at Made by Google 2025: Pixel 10 Professional, Fold, Watch 4, and extra

That is an excellent use of generative AI. Google characterizes it as an “all-new generative imaging mannequin to intelligently get better and refine intricate particulars” and claims that it might probably fill in quite a lot of particulars in zoom pictures as much as 100x. 

If this works, it will be an awesome 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 possibility to check the Pixel 10 Professional slightly bit, and under is a comparability 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 does not look grainy and pixelated.

I have been testing Samsung’s model of its 100x “House Zoom” for the reason that Galaxy S20 Extremely, and I presently use the S24 Extremely’s zoom regularly because it’s my Android every day driver and my enterprise telephone. Nevertheless, 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 photographs on each telephones get very pixelated and unusable — at the very least for the type of crisp, professional-looking photographs that I am making an attempt to create. 

The picture under reveals 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 couple of 120mm focal size on a full-frame digital camera, and the 10x zoom on the Samsung S24 Extremely is the equal of a couple of 200 mm focal size on a full-frame digital camera. 

Additionally: I went hands-on with each Google Pixel 10 mannequin – and was shocked by the one I liked 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 normal lens that exists for knowledgeable full-frame digital camera. So if Google could make these photographs usable — not like the present most digital zooms on Samsung, iPhone, and different smartphones — then will probably be giving its telephone a functionality that not solely different telephones haven’t got, however skilled cameras cannot match both. 

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

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

Additionally: Google’s new AI software makes picture modifying as straightforward as asking – and Pixel 10 will get it first

Even when Google’s Professional Res Zoom is not good at 100x, if it might probably successfully use generative AI to make digital zoom pictures a extra viable choice for taking high-quality photographs, then will probably be an enormous win. 

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