Mishaal Rahman on Android Authority:

While I was browsing the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code review last week, I spotted a code change that explicitly references the Pixel 10. In the description for the code change titled “Parallel Module Loading: Add performance mode,” a Google engineer says the change was tested on a Pixel 10, resulting in a 30% reduction in “loading time.”

The change was also tested on a Pixel Fold, though, which means it isn’t specific to next-generation hardware. Instead, it’ll impact all Android-based devices once it makes its way to Android’s open source codebase, likely in a quarterly release of Android 16. That’s because it impacts a key part of the bootup process shared by all Android devices.

It’s rare — but not totally unheard of — to see explicit references to unreleased hardware in AOSP; as far as I know, this is the first public mention of the Pixel 10 outside of leaks, though it’s not like we didn’t already know it existed.

We’ve seen the leaks, and noticed that the external design of the Pixel 10 mirrors the Pixel 9 series. What that tells me is what Mishaal is discovering. Most of what will be elevated on the Pixel 10 is the internals: software and hardware. I’d consider the Pixel 10 to be Google’s “S-year”. If Pixel 9 was in the A-tier, the Pixel 10 is having a lot of performance tweaks on the software and hardware to bring it to the S-tier. The biggest question I have though is that since the regular Pixel 10 is getting a telephoto, just like the Pro-tier, what will be the differentiator among the two?