Pixel simply zoomed forward of iPhone within the digicam pictures race

ZDNET’s key takeaways

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

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I really like zoom pictures, and I’m thrilled to see Google utilizing AI to raise zoom pictures on smartphones within the new Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL.

I take a ton of photographs on smartphones — over 100,000 photographs on iPhone and Android — and through the years, numerous them have turn out to be tough to inform other than the skilled photographs I shoot on Sony mirrorless cameras. But the cellphone photographs that also do not fairly measure up — and the place I nonetheless often should take out a giant digicam — are the long-distance zoom photographs. 

With the brand new Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL, Google is upgrading its Pro Res Zoom to seize a lot higher element by utilizing a mix of the brand new Tensor G5 chip and what Google calls its “largest AI model ever used on a Pixel Camera.” 

Also: Everything introduced at Made by Google 2025: Pixel 10 Pro, Fold, Watch 4, and extra

This is an impressive use of generative AI. Google characterizes it as an “all-new generative imaging model to intelligently recover and refine intricate details” and claims that it may fill in numerous particulars in zoom photographs as much as 100x. 

If this works, it could be an important 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 Pro a bit of bit, and under is a comparison he did of the brand new Pixel 10 Pro zoom versus the Samsung Galaxy 25 Ultra zoom on the similar distance. The Pixel model is far more usable and does not look grainy and pixelated.

I’ve been testing Samsung’s model of its 100x “Space Zoom” because the Galaxy S20 Ultra, and I at the moment use the S24 Ultra’s zoom regularly because it’s my Android each day driver and my enterprise cellphone. However, I solely use the 5x and 10x zoom lenses on the S24 Ultra — and I solely use the 5x zoom lens on iPhone 16 Pro Max. Once you transcend these focal lengths, the pictures on each telephones get very pixelated and unusable — not less than for the type of crisp, professional-looking photographs that I’m making an attempt to create. 

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

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

Also: 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 Pro Res Zoom on the Pixel 10 Pro fashions is an extended distance than any present commonplace lens that exists for an expert full-frame digicam. So if Google could make these photographs 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 do not have, however skilled cameras cannot match both. 

Here’s 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’s fairly spectacular, and finally fairly usable — probably with a bit of little bit of post-processing. Let’s remember that that is clearly a daytime shot with some good cloud cowl. I’d wish to see how effectively the Pixel’s new Pro Res Zoom holds up in low mild and imperfect lighting circumstances. And I’ll get my likelihood quickly as a result of I’m going to be testing it and reporting again the outcomes right here on ZDNET and on my Instagram. 

Also: Google’s new AI device makes photograph enhancing as straightforward as asking – and Pixel 10 will get it first

Even if Google’s Pro Res Zoom is not good at 100x, if it may successfully use generative AI to make digital zoom pictures a extra viable possibility for taking high-quality photographs, then it will likely 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 proclaims the iPhone 17 Pro fashions in September — as a result of the one firm that may at the moment compete with Google on computational pictures is Apple.