// 9TO5GOOGLE — MOBILE & WEB

Google Pixel at 10: Successes, failures, and fun along the way [Video]

Published: 10/04/2026, 02:00 PM

A decade of Pixel, it’s only in the last few years that we have seen Google settle into a rhythm with smartphones. It hasn’t been smooth sailing, though. Look back at the line-up, and it’s still hard to believe we’ve had a decade of Pixel. If you asked me back in 2016 whether Google’s in-house hardware experiment would stick around long enough to reach fully custom 3nm silicon, I’m not sure I’d have believed you. To say that Google was late to the market is an understatement. By 2016, Apple and Samsung were already well into the swing of things. To be fair, that still is the case a decade later, but now with an even tighter iron grip over the space. I was personally distraught when the Nexus lineup was canceled to the point that I actually went with the Galaxy S8 rather than wait to see what Google had in store next. Google’s answer to the ‘big two’ was Pixel. A phone not “officially” made by partners, but still sort of relying on OEMs while the production pipeline or groundwork was laid. The original Google Pixel was built in a close manufacturing partnership with HTC, featuring a wedge-shaped profile that famously tapered down to eliminate any camera bump. Let’s be real, the hardware wasn’t tearing up trees, and it looked more than a little similar to the iPhone 7/8 series. It was a conservative design, but pretty darn self-assured. The main thing that helped differentiate the device was its built-in Google Assistant integration and HDR+ image processing pipeline for photos. Rightly or wrongly, this simple formula has more or less defined the Pixel for the past decade of Google’s mobile computing efforts. Smart, simple software and artificial intelligence have been at the forefront from the very beginning and will remain so over the next 10 years. With the second generation, Google finally figured out design. The LG-made Pixel 2 XL gave us the iconic “Panda” colorway with its stark black-and-white glass back and the bright orange accent power button. You’ve told us time and time again that it’s a personal favorite for Pixel fans. It also debuted the Pixel Visual Core, Google’s first attempt at custom co-processing to let apps like Instagram use HDR+. Add single-lens Portrait Mode that put dual-camera rivals to shame, squeeze-to-activate Active Edge, ambient Now Playing track identification, and the persistent At a Glance widget, and the Pixel 2 series genuinely felt like magic in your hand.