10 years of Google Pixel: The 'camera king' that hasn't mastered the game of phones

When Google launched the first Pixel on October 20, 2016, it had a simple pitch: the best smartphone camera, period. And for a while, that was the truth. Computational photography turned the Pixel into the industry benchmark. Night Sight, astrophotography, portrait mode — features that were once magic on Pixel later became standard on iPhones and Samsungs.

Yet here we are, a decade later, and despite being the “camera phone” to beat, Pixel sales remain underwhelming. Globally, Pixel hovers around a low single-digit market share, mostly in the US and a few European markets. For a device that has defined how we take photos, that’s a strange paradox: critical darling, commercial lightweight.

Part of the problem has been Google’s execution. The shift to its own Tensor chips promised AI-first experiences but instead introduced issues with efficiency, thermals and performance compared to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon flagships. Pixels often run hotter, their battery life lags, and benchmarks never favour them. The result: an innovative phone that feels slightly compromised, just when it should feel cutting-edge.

Meanwhile, competition has only grown fiercer. Apple’s iPhone may have taken a while to catch up in computational photography, but its consistency and ecosystem integration remain unmatched. Samsung leans into versatility with its Galaxy Ultra zoom lenses. And then there’s Vivo—quietly building some of the best camera systems in the world, thanks to Zeiss partnerships and promising hardware. In blind camera tests today, Vivo’s flagships often edge out Pixel in detail, colour science, and low-light performance.