As we draw closer to the next Google product event, which will be held on August 20, the Pixel 10 rumors are coming fast. One that’s caught my eye is how the standard next-generation Pixel could have a telephoto camera.
Now I’m a big fan of telephoto cameras, which is why I tend to use Pro iPhones or Pixel phones, rather than their standard stablemates, which lack optical zoom cameras. But while I’ve waxed lyrically about the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is my ‘daily driver’ phone, having such Pro phones comes with an added cost, and often design elements that don’t always appeal to me as much as their standard siblings. The iPhone 16 Pro Max, for example, is just a tad big for easy one-handed use.
Yet I value a telephoto camera over an ultra-wide one, which probably puts me in the minority, but it does mean a lot of standard premium phones don’t always appeal to me; the Samsung Galaxy S25 (and its predecessors) being an exception due mostly to its trio of rear cameras.
But the idea of a standard Pixel phone with a trio of rear cameras, one of which is expected to be a telephoto one, has my attention.
Now I know the Google Pixel 9 Pro offers a phone that’s the size of the Pixel 9 but has a telephoto camera, yet it’s considerably more expensive than the standard phone. So if Google can give the Pixel 10 a telephoto camera but keep its price around $799 / £799/ AU$1,349, we could have an entry-level high-end (yes, I know that sounds odd) Android phone that better competes with the Galaxy S25.
Given I prefer Google’s Pixel Launcher take on Android over Samsung’s One UI, the smart tools at the heart of the Pixel phones, and the image processing Google does, I’d likely be fast to recommend a Pixel 10 with a telephoto camera.
Acing Apple
However, there’s a bigger picture here: if the telephoto camera rumor comes to fruition, then it’ll mean out of the big three phone brands (in the so-called West at least) Apple will be the only one that has a standard premium phone without a telephoto camera.
The rumors so far are all pointing towards the iPhone 17 sticking with the dual rear-camera setup of its predecessors.
While I’ve been writing about smartphones long enough to know that there’ll always be people who’ll buy the standard iPhone models no matter what, for those on the fence, Apple falling behind Google could see some break out of Cupertino’s walled garden.
As a result, we could then see Apple go back to the drawing board for the iPhone 18 in 2026 and finally give it a trio of rear cameras. Of course, that’s a bit of far-flung speculation, and Apple has long moved at its own pace.
But I feel the sands are starting to shift, with Google’s Pixel phones integrating AI very neatly and Samsung’s Galaxy AI not lagging behind being a means to attract people over to Android; not least of all given Apple Intelligence didn’t have a strong start last year and arguably feels a step behind the AI capabilities of rival Android phones.
Even if this doesn’t come to pass, I welcome more camera capabilities for the standard Pixel phones, as too often I feel they offer a lot but get swamped by their Pro stablemates. We’ll find out next week exactly what Google has in store for its next-gen Pixels, so make sure to check back with TechRadar.