Google launched its latest Pixel 10 series, including the standard model and the more powerful Pixel 10 Pro, back in September, offering iterative hardware upgrades and new AI features. But for those of us who love to burn through our battery life playing games on premium phones, there's another concern: How is gaming on the Pixel 10 Pro?
As a flagship phone with the most powerful specs Google has ever put into a (nonfolding) phone, the Pixel 10 Pro exceeds the baseline expectations for a $999 phone. (As I write this, you can buy a Pixel 10 Pro for $799 -- $200 off.) It has a sharp OLED display and high-performance specs, so it has little trouble playing the latest games.
But some of Google's hardware choices make the Pixel 10 Pro limited in ways that the OnePlus 15 and iPhone 17 Pro are not -- namely, in storage and charging. Google's phone also has a lot to live up to with its gaming capabilities, as previous Pixel phones haven't been known for their processing power and graphics rendering, regularly scoring lower on performance benchmarks than Apple's and OnePlus' flagship phones, which pack some of the most powerful processors available today. Ultimately, the Pixel 10 Pro isn't quite the absolute best pick for gaming among the best phones you can buy today.
Yet there are a few ways the phone shines as bright as -- if not literally brighter -- than the best Android phones and iPhones. Its gaming aptitude adds value to an already powerful phone with standout photo and AI capabilities.
The Google Pixel 10 Pro fits snugly inside the Backbone One controller, providing handy button controls for games that require precision like Dead Cells (pictured).
David Lumb/CNETHow it feels to play games on the Pixel 10 Pro
On a basic level, the Pixel 10 Pro is great for firing up games and playing to your heart's content. Its design is easy to hold, with flat metallic sides and curved corners that fit my fingers nicely when I rotate the phone horizontally to play most games. When I want more analog control with buttons and triggers, the handset slides in securely to my Backbone One external controller.
Games on the Pixel 10 Pro are a sight to behold. Its 6.3-inch OLED display shows sharp details with its 2,856x1,280-pixel resolution, and colors are vivid with its HDR10 Plus support. Action is smooth with the screen's 120Hz refresh rate, whether in slower platformers or fast-moving first-person shooters like Call of Duty: Mobile.
Best of all, its 3,300-nit maximum brightness makes the screen easily seen in full daylight and nearly lights up a room in full darkness. This makes hues really pop in vibrant games like Dead Cells -- it's a true leg up over other smartphones with screens that don't get as bright. The latest premium phones have gotten similarly bright (the iPhone 17 Pro Max tops out at 3,000 nits), but even phones a year or two older are substantially dimmer, with my personal iPhone 15 Pro Max reaching up to 2,000 nits brightness.
The Pixel 10 Pro's Tensor G5 chip may not have topped our charts in benchmark tests, falling more in line with performance from 2024's flagships, but it's plenty powerful enough to run the games I tested on it. The phone's 16GB of RAM contributes to that smoothness: I cranked Genshin Impact up to its maximum graphics settings, and despite a warning that my phone might overheat (I didn't notice it get that much warmer), it handled 60 frames per second gameplay just fine.
The phone's other capabilities were fine for gaming, including serviceable speakers and a respectable battery life. The latter surprised me, as older Pixel phones seemed less efficient and drained faster than competing premium handsets -- and indeed, the Pixel 10 Pro ranks below the top 10 phones with the best battery life released last year, according to our lengthy battery tests of 2025 phones. While playing games, the battery didn't drain particularly quickly, losing around 2% for each 4-5 minute match in Call of Duty: Mobile.
The Google Pixel 10 Pro handles graphically intensive first person shooters like Call of Duty: Mobile well, though not achieving quite as high frame rates as other phones.
David Lumb/CNETThe Pixel 10 Pro's gaming challenges, and where it sits for us
The Pixel 10 Pro's biggest gaming flaw is its storage. It's pretty shocking to see it start at $1,000 yet only pack 128GB, while most other premium phones have bumped their starting storage up to 256GB for the exact same starting price.
When some mobile games can be 50GB or more, this is a paltry amount, which shrinks quickly for people who take a lot of photos and videos at high resolutions. As I was loading up games on my Pixel 10 Pro, I was shocked that I had run out of space to download graphical extras in Call of Duty: Mobile and had to go delete some videos I'd taken.
Watch this: The Pixel 10 Pro XL Does Everything You Need and More
A lesser issue lies in keeping the phone charged up. The Pixel 10 Pro's battery gets decent but not spectacular life, with a 4,870-mAh capacity that's surpassed by many of its premium rivals, especially the 7,300-mAh OnePlus 15.
But topping off Google's flagship phone takes time, as it has a maximum 30-watt wired charging speed or 15-watt wireless charging. That likely means it'll take over an hour to get it back to full from 0%, which takes a lot longer than some of the faster-charging phones out there, like the OnePlus 15, which went from 1% to 73% in half an hour thanks to its 80-watt wired charge rate. Compare that to the Pixel 10 Pro, which added 44% in the same amount of time.
Read more: The OnePlus 15 Is One of the Best Mainstream Phones for Gamers
Unlike some other premium phones, the Pixel 10 Pro does have its own MagSafe-like magnets aligned in a circle on its rear cover, called Pixelsnap, which is convenient for wireless charging, even if it's slow. Google phone fans can get faster charging with the Pixel 10 Pro XL, which supports 45-watt wired and 25-watt wireless charging, though they'll have to pay more for the bigger phone.
Neither of these issues are huge setbacks that impede the Pixel 10 Pro's gaming capability -- there's just nothing in its features that make it stand out above other premium phones, aside from its bright and vivid display. That's not surprising, as Google's phone excels in nongaming aspects, including AI photo features like Auto Best Take and Camera Coach.
If you're a Pixel fan who also plays games, you'll enjoy firing them up on the Pixel 10 Pro, which is a good all-around device. For those who want a phone with features that are specifically better for gaming, there are other handsets that'll satisfy, like the OnePlus 15.
