Phone Comparisons: Apple Iphone Air Vs Google Pixel 10

This time around, we’re comparing Apple’s new ultra-thin smartphone with Google’s base Pixel 10 model. In other words, this is an Apple iPhone Air vs Google Pixel 10 comparison. These two smartphones are very different, in so many ways, actually. They both look different and are different in terms of size. Their specs are also considerably different, and so on. It should make for an interesting comparison.

We will kick things off by listing the specs of both smartphones, as we usually do in comparisons. Following that, we’ll compare their designs, displays, performance, battery life, cameras, and audio. These two phones also have somewhat similar price tags, the iPhone Air is more expensive, but only by $100. So, there’s a good chance that some of you are trying to decide which one to get. In any case, let’s get to it.

• Specs
• Apple iPhone Air vs Google Pixel 10: Design
• Apple iPhone Air vs Google Pixel 10: Display
• Apple iPhone Air vs Google Pixel 10: Performance
• Apple iPhone Air vs Google Pixel 10: Battery
• Apple iPhone Air vs Google Pixel 10: Cameras
• Audio

Specs

Apple iPhone Air

Google Pixel 10

Apple iPhone Air vs Google Pixel 10: Design

The Apple iPhone Air is made out of titanium and glass. Apple opted for titanium here due to the sheer thinness of the phone itself. It is only 5.6mm thick, which makes it thinner than even the Galaxy S25 Edge. The Google Pixel 10 , on the other hand, is 8.6mm thick, and it is made out of aluminum and glass. The iPhone Air is also a bit larger, as it has a 0.2-inch bigger display. It is both taller and wider. The difference is not huge, but it’s easily noticeable. The Pixel 10 is a more compact phone.

The frame on the iPhone Air is a bit more rounded, but both are kind of flat. The Pixel 10’s frame is thicker, though, so it definitely feels different. The iPhone Air has a power/lock button on the right side, along with a Camera control key. On the left, you’ll find its volume up and down buttons, along with an Action key. The Pixel 10 has all of its physical buttons on the right-hand side. The power/lock button is located above the volume up and down keys, though.

Apple iPhone Air

Both of them have flat displays, with uniform bezels around them. The bezels on the iPhone Air are thinner, though. That phone has a pill-shaped cutout at the top of the display, the so-called Dynamic Island. The Pixel 10, on the other hand, comes with a centered display camera hole up top. If we flip them around, you’ll notice camera bars on both phones, but different ones. The one on the iPhone Air has a single camera inside it, which protrudes a bit. The Pixel 10 includes a camera bar with three cameras, all of which are protected by the same piece of glass.

Both phones are IP68 certified for water and dust resistance, while they feel entirely different in the hand. Both are quite slippery, however, so keep that in mind.

Apple iPhone Air vs Google Pixel 10: Display

The Apple iPhone Air features a 6.5-inch LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED display. That panel is flat, and it supports an adaptive refresh rate (1-120Hz). HDR10 is supported, as is Dolby Vision. The peak brightness here is 3,000 nits, while the screen-to-body ratio is at around 90%. The resolution here is 2736 x 1260 pixels, while the display is protected by the Ceramic Shield 2. Apple also used an anti-reflective coating here.

The Pixel 10, on the other hand, has a 6.3-inch OLED display. That panel is also flat, and it supports an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. The peak brightness is 3,000 nits, while the screen-to-body ratio is at around 86%. The resolution here is 2424 x 1080 pixels, while the display aspect ratio is 20:9. This panel is protected by the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 from Corning.

Both of these panels are really good, actually. They are both vivid, have good viewing angles, and both are plenty bright. The iPhone Air does have some advantages, though. First of all, it’s sharper. That’s not something you’ll notice, but there you go. It also has thinner bezels around it, which makes it more immersive, not to mention that the anti-reflective coating does make a different. Not as big of a difference as the Gorilla Armor or Armor 2 glass would, but still.

Apple iPhone Air vs Google Pixel 10: Performance

The Apple A19 Pro processor fuels the iPhone Air. That is Apple’s new 3nm chip, which comes with a 5-core GPU in this case. It’s a different variant of the A19 Pro that is included in the ‘Pro’ iPhones, which comes with 6 GPU cores. In any case, that chip is combined with 12GB of RAM and NVMe flash storage here.

The Google Pixel 10, on the other hand, is fueled by the Google Tensor G5 processor. That is also a 3nm chip, and the first Google Tensor processor made by TSMC. It is backed by 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 3.1 or UFS 4.0 flash storage. It all depends on what model you get. The 128GB version uses UFS 3.1, while the 256GB model has UFS 4.0 storage. Neither phone supports storage expansion, by the way.

Both smartphones deliver in the performance department. The iPhone Air is the more powerful of the two, mainly because of its processor. In day-to-day use, however, both smartphones are very smooth and can handle pretty much anything you throw at them. They also don’t really heat up unless you’re gaming. While gaming, both can get quite warm, though there’s nothing to worry in terms of overheating, at least from what we’ve seen.

Apple iPhone Air vs Google Pixel 10: Battery

The Apple iPhone Air ships with a 3,149mAh battery on the inside, while the Google Pixel 10 has a 4,970mAh battery pack. That’s quite a difference. Apple’s iPhones usually have smaller batteries than their Android counterparts, but the iPhone Air is well below the rest of its siblings too. Is that a problem, though? Well, from what we’ve seen, not really, at least if you’re not expecting great battery life.

The phone did just fine in the battery department, better than the Galaxy S25 Edge. In fact, it can compete with what the Pixel 10 offers. It all depends on how you use your phone, but both of these devices can serve you well for a full day. If you’re a power user, well, then it’s a different story. Gaming, for example, will make a serious dent in the battery life on both devices.

What about charging? Well, the iPhone Air supports wired charging at about 25W, but it’s not constant. It’s slower than what the ‘Pro’ iPhones offer at 40W. It also supports 20W MagSafe wireless charging and 4.5W reverse wired charging. The Google Pixel 10, on the other hand, supports 30W wired, 15W Qi2 wireless, and 4.5W reverse wired charging. Neither smartphone ships with a charger in the box.

Apple iPhone Air vs Google Pixel 10: Cameras

The Apple iPhone Air features a single camera on the back. It includes a 48-megapixel unit (1/1.56-inch sensor size). That is the same camera that the base iPhone 17 uses as its main snapper. Apple had to cut the other two cameras in order to keep the phone as thin as it is, that’s the whole point here.

Google Pixel 10

What about the Google Pixel 10? Well, it has three cameras on the back. Google added one camera compared to the Pixel 9, though it also degraded the main camera sensor, kind of. It includes a 48-megapixel main camera (1/2.0-inch sensor size), a 13-megapixel ultrawide camera (1/3.1-inch sensor size, 120-degree FoV), and a 10.8-megapixel telephoto camera (1/3.2-inch sensor size, 5x optical zoom).

While both phones do a good job in the camera department, there are notable differences. The iPhone Air provides images that look closer to real life. Also, the Pixel 10, while it can produce great-looking, contrasting shots, tends to have some issues with balance. Images do end up looking a bit darker than they should at times, we’re not sure why. The camera does need some tweaking. It is the only phone of these two that can take ultrawide images, however, and it also does better with high-zoom shots.

Audio

The iPhone Air does not have stereo speakers. It has a single speaker, which sounds fine for a single speaker, but in the general sense, not really. When compared with the Pixel 10, it’s an easy win for the Pixel, as it has solid stereo speakers.

Neither phone includes an audio jack. You can utilize their Type-C ports if you’d like to connect your wired headphones. You’ll need a dongle, though. Alternatively, both phones support Bluetooth 6.0 for wireless Bluetooth connectivity.