Here are some of the top announcements from the latest Made by Google.
Google unveiled several products, including the new Pixel 10 range, at the recent Made by Google hardware event yesterday (20 August). The event was hosted by US Television personality and comedian Jimmy Fallon alongside several Google executives and follows the I/O developer conference from earlier this year where Google announced a suite of new AI-related updates to its products.
Yesterday’s event once again cements AI as the integral offering that companies have been betting on. Here are some of the top announcements from yesterday that you should know about.
Pixel turns a decade old
2025 marks 10 years since Google started developing Pixel, launching the very first Pixel smartphones in 2016. Yesterday, the company announced the 10th generation of these phones – introducing Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL and Pixel 10 Pro Fold. According to Google, this latest range is made with the “most recycled materials yet”.
The new range of phones, available to pre-order now, are powered by Google’s latest Tensor G5 chip (more on this below) and the newest Gemini Nano model. The phones also, for the first time, come fitted with Qi2 wireless charging, which Google has branded as “Pixelsnap”.
While Pixel 10 Pro Fold is touted as the first foldable device to have an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, giving it the same level of protection as the other Pixel 10 phones. The Fold also has a new gearless hinge that Google says is twice as durable as the one in Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
On the photography side of things, the new Pixels come with a 5x telephoto lens, which the company says offers 10-times the optical image quality with zoom up to 20-times. While exclusive to the Pro and Pro XL versions, the Pro Res Zoom captures details at up to 100-times zoom.
This is enabled by the Tensor G5 chip and the new generative imaging model which recover and refine details lost through the zoom, Google said. Meanwhile, Camera Coach, a new feature made possible with Gemini can suggest ways to improve photos, offering advice on framing and composition for a shot.
However, Pixel 10’s main and ultrawide cameras are a slight downgrade from Pixel 9, notes The Verge. According to Google, these phones are set to receive OS and security updates for seven years.
Unlike Google and some of the other top phone manufacturers, Apple is yet to launch its own foldable phone. However, reports suggest that the company is gearing towards its own foldable phone set to be announced in September 2026.
Google Tensor G5
The latest range in the Pixel lineup come fitted with Google’s fifth-generation customer-designed mobile processor called Tensor G5. Tensor G5 is designed in the leading three nanometre process node from TSMC, a manufacturing tech that allows for more transistors to be packed into a chip, advancing its efficiency and power.
According to Google, Tensor G5 comes with a tensor processing unit 60pc more powerful compared to Pixel 9 and a 34pc faster on average CPU compared to G4. The chip is also the first to run the newest Gemini Nano model, improving its speed and efficiency in certain use cases.
“Google Pixel devices were initially designed to limit Android fragmentation and accelerate innovation. Ten years later, the strategic challenge is not to become the market leader, but to demonstrate the value of Google’s integrated ecosystem,” commented Forrester VP principal analyst Thomas Husson.
“By integrating its own chips (Tensor G5), subscriptions (YouTube or Fitbit Premium), AI services, and Gemini exclusives into an expanded hardware range…Pixel has become much more than a showcase.
“It’s positioning remains premium and its market share is less than 5pc, but in the age of AI, it is a true laboratory of innovation. It’s also a means of countering Apple’s integrated strategy (hardware/software/services), while remaining a strategic partner for Samsung and the Android ecosystem,” Husson added.
Gemini, a smart home assistant
Google announced ‘Gemini for Home,’ a new AI voice assistant that is set to replace Google Assistant on the company’s smart home devices such as doorbells, speakers etc. Google claims that the new assistant is “more powerful and easier” to use, enabling more complex requests.
According to Google, Gemini for Home will allow for a “natural back and forth discussion”, and while you do have to start off with the “Hey Google” command to activate the session, the company says the interactions will feel “fundamentally new”.
Google lists a variety of functions that the new AI voice assistant that support, including for a “creative” collaborator that can help come up with stories, personalised requests for instructions, natural language support for calendar, lists and timer creation.
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