I put the iPhone 17 vs Pixel 10 through a 7-round face-off — here’s the winner

One of the matchups I’ve been dying to see play out since Apple's September phone release is an iPhone 17 vs Pixel 10 comparison. There are a number of reasons why I’m eager to watch this bout, but mainly because of how these two best phone contenders compete head-on against each other at $799.

Even though it’s been on the market for a smidge longer, the new Pixel 10 remains “a satisfying update” as I said in my Pixel 10 review, because Google's flagship phone gains nearly the same set of features as the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL. If that’s not enough, it’s one of the best camera phones around because of the addition of a dedicated telephoto camera.

Meanwhile, I say in my iPhone 17 review that “it’s the [iPhone] that most people should get” due to its lower cost versus the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. And compared to past versions, Apple gives the iPhone 17 way bigger upgrades to make it more modern, like increasing the iPhone 17's display refresh rate to 120Hz.

That’s why I’m putting the iPhone 17 vs Pixel 10 to the test by grading them in several categories, so I can definitely say which is the better phone.

iPhone 17 vs Pixel 10: Specifications

iPhone 17 vs Pixel 10: Price and Release

Like I’ve mentioned already, both phones have identical starting prices of $799 in the U.S., with U.K. users being charged £799. In Australia, the iPhone is a tad more expensive than the Pixel, costing AU$1,399 compared to AU$1,349.

Both are still way cheaper than their respective Pro versions, but there’s one particular reason why the iPhone 17 is better. That’s because it gets double the starting storage capacity at 256GB, versus the 128GB offered with the Pixel 10.

The 256GB equivalent Pixel 10 costs $100 more at $899, while the iPhone 17 with 512GB of storage will set you back $999.

Both phones are available right now, with the Pixel 10 launching back on August 28. The iPhone 17 was released not long after that on September 195.

Winner: iPhone 17

iPhone 17 vs Pixel 10: Design

Honestly, you can’t go wrong with either design because both the iPhone 17 and Pixel 10 use premium materials and are solidly constructed. Apart from their camera compartments, the iPhone 17 and Pixel 10 actually have a lot in common — like the flat edges and aluminum frames. Their metal meets glass constructions also give them the same IP68 rating for water and dust resistance. That said, Apple's version of IP68 covers a greater depth than what the Pixel 10 protects against.

There are other notable design differences between the two phones. For example, I like the matte-ish surface of the iPhone 17 because it does a better job of masking fingerprints and smudges. The Pixel 10’s casing is glass and therefore is way more reflective. Furthermore, the Pixel 10 has a smaller cutout for its front-facing camera, but the display’s bezels are a smidge thicker.

While the Pixel 10’s camera housing sticks out way more than the iPhone 17, it does give it a certain charm that I prefer. Plus, I like the deeper and richer color options of the Pixel 10. For example, Indigo has a vibrant tone that pops in the lights. In contrast, the colors of the iPhone 17 are much more subdued.

Winner: Pixel 10

iPhone 17 vs Pixel 10: Display

Both phones come with 6.3-inch OLED displays that make them dreamy to look at with their wide viewing angles and rich colors. Technically speaking, the iPhone 17 has the higher pixel density count at 460 ppi — but you honestly wouldn’t be able to tell.

Apple’s new Ceramic Shield 2 cover definitely reduces glare on the screen compared to the previous iPhone 16, but I still think the Pixel 10’s display performs better because of its brighter tone.

In our testing, the Pixel 10 achieves a peak brightness of 2,333 nits, which is a humungous leap over the 1,505 nits produced by the iPhone 17. This makes the Pixel 10 way easier to see outdoors when the sun’s present.

Winner: Pixel 10

iPhone 17 vs Pixel 10: Cameras

In years past, the base iPhone and Pixel were neck-and-neck with their camera performances. But this year’s different because the Pixel 10 sets the benchmark with its triple camera system, which consists of a 48MP main shooter, 13MP ultrawide, and 10.8MP telephoto w/5x optical zoom. There’s a 10.5MP selfie cam around the front.

The dedicated zoom camera is still somewhat of an anomaly in this price range, which puts the iPhone 17 at a utility disadvantage. The iPhone 17 has a 48MP main camera and a 48MP ultrawide, with a new 18MP Center Stage camera around the front. All of its zooming is done with the main camera, as it leans on sensor cropping and digital zoom to achieve it.

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Starting off with the main cameras on the iPhone 17 and Pixel 10, they perform very similarly under the same lighting conditions. The shots above are an example of this, as they capture good details around the building — like the individual bricks on the sides. The iPhone 17’s warmer color temperature is the only big difference between them.

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With their ultrawide performances, it appears as though the iPhone 17 and Pixel 10 cover the same field of view that catches more of the building. I really like the detail capture of both phones, but the Pixel 10’s better dynamic performance boosts the shadows to make it look a smidge brighter.

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Indoors under artificial lighting, the results are no different with their main cameras. Color reproduction appears similar, while the fine print details of the packaging all around the shelves are just about the same.

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With macro shots, though, I prefer the iPhone 17 because more of the shot is in focus — whereas the Pixel 10 focuses mostly on what’s in the middle, which has better definition in my opinion. Despite this, I still prefer the iPhone 17’s shot.

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The iPhone 17’s new 18MP Center Stage camera offers more coverage, which is evident in my selfie shots above. I will argue that there’s better details captured with the Pixel 10, but it makes my skin tone look appear muted.

In order to test out zoom performance, I captured shots at 10x zoom because that's the maximum for the iPhone 17. You can see how the iPhone 17 struggles at detailing the words on the sign above. In fact, I can't make out the words at all because they’re blurry like no other — whereas they're clearly defined with the Pixel 10.

Likewise, the optically backed zoom lens of the Pixel 10 does a better job at capturing the details all around the building above. Not only is brickwork better defined, but the entire shot is more in focus than the iPhone 17.

Image processing algorithms might work better on static subjects, but I wanted to see how these phones perform with an actual person moving around. The woman on the chair at Bryant Park again comes out sharper and more detailed with the Pixel 10. While I can make her out with the iPhone 17's shot, it's nowhere as good.

Finally, I pointed both phones at something much closer to me with this flower hidden in a bush. It was about 10 feet away from my position, but the 5x optical zoom helps the Pixel 10 to capture the details in the petals.

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Under low light conditions, Apple continues to prove that it’s the low light king with the shots of the tree in my backyard above. With their respective night modes enabled, the iPhone 17 is noticeably brighter.

Really, you won’t go wrong with either phone because their cameras behave almost identically under the same conditions. I will give it to the iPhone 17 in delivering the better performance with macro and low light shots. In contrast, the Pixel 10’s zoom performance is clearly unmatched in this comparison.

Paired with all of its extra AI camera tools it offer, like Ask Photos, Auto Best Take, and Camera Coach, I would pick the Pixel 10 over the iPhone 17 any time.

Winner: Pixel 10

iPhone 17 vs Pixel 10: Performance

Perhaps there will be a day when Google’s Tensor chips outmuscle Apple, but this isn’t the time. Despite Google’s efforts at making the Tensor G5 powering the Pixel 10 more powerful, it still lags behind the performance of the A19 chip inside of the iPhone 17.

Benchmark testing shows how the iPhone 17 beats the Pixel 10 by wide margins, like the disparity in the GeekBench 6 scores with single and multi-core testing. If that’s not enough the iPhone 17’s GPU performance is also a step above with an average frame rate of 130.97 fps, which is way smoother than the Pixel 10’s 80.58 fps average.

While these synthetic benchmarks give the iPhone 17 a wide margin of victory, their actual real world performances actually are much closer than you think. Both phones exude fluid animations and instant responses with everyday tasks, which I want to say is attributed to their 120Hz refresh rates.

In other circumstances, like when I try to edit a 4K video and render a new clip, I find the iPhone 17 consistently handles the task way faster than the Pixel 10.

Winner: iPhone 17

iPhone 17 vs Pixel 10: Battery

After running our battery drain tests on both phones, the results show the Pixel 10 lasting longer — albeit, it’s not by much. Its time of 13 hours and 13 minutes is 26 minutes longer than the iPhone 17’s mark of 12 hours and 47 minutes.

On the flip side, the iPhone 17 benefits from faster charging times. In 15 and 30 minutes of charging, its battery capacity reached 39% and 71% respectively. These results show it’s faster than the Pixel 10, which despite having 30W wired charging, gets up to 26% and 52% in the same amount of time.

What’s also important to know is that both phones have embedded magnets that allow them to support magnetic accessories, which is a first for the Pixel 10. This allows it to work with many MagSafe chargers I’ve used with iPhones previously.

Winner: Draw

iPhone 17 vs Pixel 10: Software and AI

This one’s an easy one because after playing around with the Pixel 10, the new features it brings to the table are way more meaningful than the Apple Intelligence capabilities on board the iPhone 17.

Don’t get me wrong, iOS 26 has a brand new makeover courtesy of its Liquid Glass material design, but the visuals alone aren’t enough to propel its software package over the Pixel 10’s Android 16 experience.

AI features add more value, which is one of the strengths of the Pixel 10. Magic Cue is one of its new AI features that shows the proactive approach Google’s going with. Although the feature works in the background, it shows how AI is evolving because of how Magic Cue is aware of what I’m doing on the Pixel 10 and makes the appropriate actions — like how it pops up with a calendar event when I’m texting someone asking when and where it is.

The Pixel 10 also offers generative AI features that further support my point on why the Pixel 10 is better than the iPhone 17 when it comes to software. consider Auto Best Take, which now generates different faces from just a single snapshot, allowing me to pick and choose the ones I want for the best looking group photo.

I also put Google’s Pixel Studio and Apple’s Image Playground to the test, with the Pixel 10 constantly generating the accurate and more realistic looking images.

Even though Apple adds a new Call Screen feature with iOS 26, it still pales in comparison to the similar Call Screening feature of Android 16. And finally, there’s the hidden Android 16 desktop mode that lets me connect the Pixel 10 to a monitor for that desktop PC-like experience, which is something you won’t find with the iPhone 17.

All of this points to the obvious: the Pixel 10 has the deeper, more impressive software package.

Winner: Pixel 10

iPhone 17 vs Pixel 10: Verdict

Google deserves a lot of credit here because the Pixel 10 really does set the bar for all other $799 priced phones. Not only does it have a dedicated telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom, but the software experience is on another level with the unprecedented amount of AI features it packages.

You won’t go wrong with the iPhone 17, given all the hardware upgrades it gets than in previous years. However, the software offering compared to the Pixel 10 is flat. You’re essentially paying the same amount of money, but for way fewer features. I’ve said before how the Pixel 10 is the undisputed pound-for-pound champion, and I still feel that way.

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