Over the past three months, Apple introduced a much-improved iPhone 17, the base model of its flagship smartphone series. Google preceded Apple with the Pixel 10, making it a close call between the two flagships. Naturally, consumers looking for a flagship smartphone upgrade are looking at either of the two phones to see which fares better. While the margins between the two are fine, can one outperform the other?
Interestingly, both the Apple iPhone 17 and the Google Pixel 10 have retained a near-identical design from last year. The Pixel 10, on this note, looks a touch more upmarket. The iPhone's biggest strength and struggle lies in the fact that its social validation for buyers is derived out of the three-camera design of the 'Pro' series. The Pixel 10, on this note, has a design that's similar to its Pro and Pro XL models -- which means that as far as design and aesthetics are concerned, buyers won't feel like they're making a compromise.
It also looks stately, and the uniform camera bar at the top end of the rear gives it proportionate measurements -- meaning that it won't rock unevenly on a table-top without a cover on. While looks are subjective, the Pixel 10 looks and feels a touch more suave than the iPhone 17 -- though brand loyalists may still stick to their phone of choice.
The iPhone 17 takes the cake this year with its 6.3-inch Oled display, which for the first time gets 120Hz refresh rate. In Apple parlance, they call it 'Super Retina XDR with ProMotion' -- the same nomenclature as its 'Pro' brethren. Additionally, it gets Dolby Vision certification, alongside support for HDR10 visuals.
The Pixel 10, while matching the iPhone for specifications, misses out on Dolby Vision. As a result, streaming high-resolution content parallely on the two phones clearly shows that the iPhone 17 renders better visuals. However, the Pixel 10, out of the box and without any modified settings, is the brighter of the two under direct, bright sunlight. Those who spend more time outdoors may want to compromise on the colour depth of the iPhone to choose the Pixel 10 as far as peak brightness is concerned.
As far as stereo audio is concerned, both the phones deliver a similar experience. The iPhone 17, however, delivers more bass out of its speakers -- while the Pixel 10 is louder. Both, to be sure, are good enough if you're streaming a movie with stereo audio support without earphones -- though we suspect that would be quite rare.
On their own terms, both the Pixel 10 and the iPhone 17 make for very good phone cameras. But comparatively, the iPhone 17 produces visibly more details in most lighting conditions, but lacks a dedicated telephoto camera -- which means that if you attend a lot of live events and concerts, you'd miss out on a standalone optical telephoto camera -- which in turn means that the eventual zoom shots aren't that good.
In regular landscape photographs and portraits of people, the iPhone 17 does a stellar job with the overall details. It makes the colours appear a touch too warm, but the photographic styles feature in the iPhone camera app is an understated gem -- and does very well at giving you fine colour changes to get the right tonality.
The Pixel 10's colour rendering appears a touch on the cooler side, while selfies, particularly in portrait mode, look evidently post-processed around the edges of the subject. The iPhone 17, interestingly, does much better in portrait selfies. However, in general portrait mode shots of objects, the Pixel 10 is a more consistent performer -- while the iPhone 17 fumbles with lighting quite often.
As far as videos are concerned, the Pixel 10 appears to capture better audio from the surroundings, but the iPhone 17 captures videos that are far better stabilized. In general, it is Apple that fares more consistently -- as long as zoomed-in videos aren't concerned.
To sum up, the iPhone 17 is the more likeable camera of the two. That said, the Pixel 10 is far better in zoom performance thanks to its dedicated 5x optical telephoto camera. It's a tough compromise to choose between telephoto and ultra-wide, for you'd need both depending on the situation you're in. The Pixel 10 is better in that it gives you all three options. The iPhone 17 makes you lose out on a dedicated telephoto camera, and that is something you'll have to learn to live with.
In terms of outright gaming and everyday performance, both the phones feel super zippy to begin with. The iPhone 17 fares better in gaming in terms of consistency of performance over longer hours, while the Pixel 10 has an obviously larger dosage of AI features baked into the software interface.
Android, by design, also appears more flexible and fun to play around with, while iOS' Liquid Glass interface makeover looks quite nice as you get used to it. There's nothing that separates the two in terms of connectivity and network features. However, the iPhone 17 continues to miss out on 'Ldac' -- the codec that Bluetooth headphones use for high-quality music streaming. You won't miss this unless you compare two earphones next to each other on the two phones, but this is a miss nonetheless.
On overall terms, the iPhone 17 is the obvious better performer in terms of smoothness while multitasking. The Pixel 10 also appeared to heat up more than the iPhone 17, while handling multiple tasks such as being used as a mobile hotspot, while navigating and on a call.
Apple's A19 processor also appears to be more efficient than the Pixel 10's Tensor G5, leading to the iPhone 17 producing better battery life through the day. The Pixel 10, starting at 8AM, needed to be plugged in by 8PM -- at which time the iPhone 17 was still at 30% power on similar workloads.
It is a really close call between the two. The Pixel 10 looks and feels better in hand, has the brighter display, enjoys an extra telephoto camera, and although it comes second in performance and battery life, is not bad at all.
In the long run, the iPhone 17 produces more depth of colours, has the better default camera for both photos and videos, and does better in multitasking and gaming performance, as well as battery life. For this very reason, if you're spending ₹80,000 (before discounts) for a new smartphone today, the iPhone 17 may be the better overall call -- though you won't regret the Pixel 10, either.