Phone comparison · UK prices · October 2026
iPhone Air or Pixel 10: which should you buy?
The short answer
The iPhone Air leads on speed, is thinner and lighter, and has the bigger screen. The Pixel 10 leads on battery life and toughness. The iPhone Air costs £300 more than the Pixel.
Comparing 2 phones
iPhone AirOverall score 81/100
Pixel 10Overall score 85/100
What the extra money buys
The iPhone Air costs £300 more than the Pixel.
You get: a sharper selfie camera, a faster chip, a bigger screen and a thinner body.
You give up: longer battery life in published tests, faster charging by cable, a zoom lens and an ultra-wide camera.
Worth it if you want a sharper selfie camera and a faster chip. Keep the money if longer battery life in published tests matters more to you.
Differences in daily life
Battery and charging
Best: Pixel 10The Pixel 10 lasted longer in published battery tests (web browsing: 16 h 11 min vs 12 h 6 min on the iPhone), so it should go longer between charges.
It also charges faster by cable (30 W vs 15 W on the iPhone), so it tops up quicker with a compatible charger.
Screen
EvenBoth have similar sharpness (460 ppi and 422 ppi), close enough not to matter much day to day.
Camera
Depends on youThe Pixel 10 is the only one with a zoom lens (5x), so it can get closer to faraway subjects without cropping the photo.
The iPhone Air's selfie camera has more megapixels (18 MP vs 10 MP on the Pixel), so selfies and video calls can look more detailed.
Speed
Best: iPhone AirThe iPhone Air's chip (Apple A19 Pro) scores higher in benchmark tests than the one in the Pixel (Google Tensor G5), so it should feel quicker in demanding apps and games.
Toughness
Best: Pixel 10The Pixel 10 has the better water and dust rating (IP69 vs IP68 on the iPhone), so on top of surviving a dunk it is also rated against high-pressure water jets.
Size and weight
Best: iPhone AirThe iPhone Air has the bigger screen (6.5 inches vs 6.3 inches on the Pixel), which gives more room for videos, maps and reading.
It is also thinner (5.6 mm vs 8.6 mm on the Pixel), so it feels slimmer in the hand.
Still can't decide?
Up to 2 quick questions, one tap each.
Scores
| Score | iPhone Air | Pixel 10 |
|---|---|---|
| Battery | 47 | 72 |
| Screen | 91 | 89 |
| Camera | 75 | 86 |
| Speed | 92 | 80 |
| Toughness | 95 | 96 |
| Connections and extras | 87 | 88 |
| Overall | 81 | 85 |
How these scores are made: Each score is calculated from the maker's published specs and benchmark results, using one fixed formula for every phone. We have not tested these phones in the hand. How we score phones
Specs side by side
Display
- Type
- LTPO Super Retina XDR OLEDLTPO OLED
- Size
- 6.5 inches6.3 inches
- Resolution
- 1260×2736 pixels1080×2424 pixels
- PPI
- 460422
- Aspect ratio
- 19.5:920:9
- Screen-to-body ratio
- 89.9 %86.1 %
- Display features
- Capacitive Touchscreen Dolby Vision HDR10 Multi-touch displayCapacitive Touchscreen HDR10+ Multi-touch display
- Screen protection
- Anti-reflective coating, Ceramic Shield 2 Glass, Mohs level 5Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, Mohs level 4
Core Specifications
- Chipset
- Apple A19 ProGoogle Tensor G5
- CPU cores
- 58
- CPU max frequency
- 4260 MHz3780 MHz
- Microarchitecture
- 2x 4.26 GHz – Performance cores 4x X.X GHz – Efficiency cores1x 3.78 GHz – Cortex-X4 5x 3.05 GHz – Cortex-A725 2x 2.25 GHz – Cortex-A520
- GPU
- Apple A19 Pro GPUIMG PowerVR DXT-48-1536
- Storage
- 256GB, 512GB, 1TB128GB, 256GB
- Storage Type
- NVMeN/A
Software
- Operating System
- iOS 26Android 16 (Baklava) , with up to 7 major Android upgrades
Main Camera
- Video Resolution
- 2160p @ 24/25/30/60 fps 1080p @ 25/30/60/120/240 fps2160p @ 24/30/60 fps 1080p @ 24/30/60/120/240 fps
- Video Features
- Dolby Vision HDR (up to 60fps), HDR, Stereo Sound Rec10-bit HDR, Gyro-EIS, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS)
- Lenses
- 48 MP , ƒ /1.6, 26 mm ( Wide-angle ), 1.0 μm , 1/1.56" Sensor size - Dual-Pixel PDAF - sensor-shift OIS48 MP , ƒ /1.7, 25 mm ( Wide-angle ), 0.8 μm , 1/2.0" Sensor size Dual-Pixel PDAF Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) 10. 8 MP , ƒ /3.1, 112 mm ( Telephoto ), x5 optical zoom, 1/3.2" Sensor size - Dual-Pixel PDAF - Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) 13 MP , ƒ /2.2, 120° ( Ultra-Wide angle ), 1/3.1" Sensor size - PDAF
- Flash
- Dual-LED Dual-Tone FlashLED Flash
Selfie camera
- Matrix
- 18 MP10 MP
- Lenses
- 18 MP , ƒ /1.9 ( Wide-angle ) - Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) - PDAF5 MP , ƒ /2.2, 20 mm , 95° ( Ultra-Wide angle ), 1.22 μm , 1/3.1" Sensor size - PDAF
- Video Resolution
- 2160p @ 24/25/30/60 fps 1080p @ 25/30/60/120 fps2160p @ 30/60 fps 1080p @ 30/60 fps
- Video Features
- 3D (spatial) audio, Dolby Vision HDR, Gyro-EIS, Stereo Sound RecN/A
- Features
- Dolby Vision HDR High Dynamic Range (HDR)High Dynamic Range (HDR) Panorama
General
- Announced
- Tuesday, 09 September 2025Wednesday, 20 August 2025
- Released
- Friday, 19 September 2025Thursday, 28 August 2025
Battery
- Capacity
- 3149 mAh4970 mAh
- Wired charging power
- 15W30W
- Features
- MagSafe fast wireless charging, Qi2 wireless charging, Reverse wired charging, Wired charging from 0-50% in 30 minutes (official specs),Qi2 wireless charging, Reverse wired charging,
Battery Life Test
- Browsing
- 12:06 hh:mm16:11 hh:mm
- Video watching
- 8:23 hh:mm10:40 hh:mm
- Playing games
- 7:38 hh:mm10:13 hh:mm
Design
- Height
- 156.2 mm152.8 mm
- Width
- 74.7 mm72 mm
- Thickness
- 5.6 mm8.6 mm
- Weight
- 165 g204 g
- Resistance certificate
- IP68IP68, IP69
- Resistance cert. meaning
- Dust and water-resistant (withstands high-pressure water jets; submersible up to 6m for 30 minutes)Dust-tight and water-resistant (submersible up to 1.5m for 30 minutes)
Network
- Network Type support
- EV-DO Rev.A 3.1 Mbps, 5G, LTE, HSPA5G, LTE (CA), HSPA
- Network_5G bands
- 5G: n1 (2100), n2 (1900), n3 (1800), n5 (850), n7 (2600), n8 (900), n12 (700), n14 (700), n20 (800), n25 (1900), n26 (850), n28 (700), n29 (700), n30 (2300), n38 (2600), n40 (2300), n41 (2500), n48 (3500), n53 (2500), n66 (2100), n70 (2000), n71 (600), n75 (1500), n77 (3700), n78 (3500), n79 (4700 MHz)N/A
- Network_4G bands
- LTE: b1 (2100), b2 (1900), b3 (1800), b4 (1700), b5 (850), b7 (2600), b8 (900), b12 (700), b13 (700), b14 (700), b17 (700), b18 (800), b19 (800), b20 (800), b25 (1900), b26 (850), b28 (700), b29 (700), b30 (2300), b32 (1500), b34 (2000), b38 (2600), b39 (1900), b40 (2300), b41 (2500), b42 (3500), b48 (3800), b53 (2500), b66 (1700), b71 (600 MHz)LTE: b1 (2100), b2 (1900), b3 (1800), b4 (1700), b5 (850), b7 (2600), b8 (900), b12 (700), b13 (700), b14 (700), b17 (700), b18 (800), b19 (800), b20 (800), b21 (1500), b25 (1900), b26 (850), b28 (700), b29 (700), b30 (2300), b32 (1500), b38 (2600), b39 (1900), b40 (2300), b41 (2500), b42 (3500), b46 (5200), b48 (3800), b66 (1700), b70 (2000), b71 (600 MHz)
- Network_3G bands
- HSPA: 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 MHzHSPA: 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 / 800 MHz
- Network_2G bands
- GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz CDMA: 800 / 1900 MHzGSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
Connectivity
- WiFi support
- Yes ( Wi-Fi 7 )Yes ( Wi-Fi 6 )
- USB ports
- USB Type-C 2.0,USB Type-C 3.2,
- USB connectivity
- USB chargingUSB charging, USB Mass Storage device (UMS)
- GPS features
- BDS, GALILEO, GLONASS, GPS, NavIC, QZSSBDS, GALILEO, GLONASS, GPS (L1 & L5), NavIC, QZSS
- Wi-Fi standards
- 802.11/a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be802.11/a/b/g/n/ac/ax
- Wi-Fi features
- Mobile Hotspot, Tri-bandDual-band