The one thing Pixel phones do better than anyone, and nobody wants it

Published Oct 16, 2026, 6:30 AM EDT Bertel is a lifelong tech enthusiast with over a decade of experience writing thousands of articles about Android devices, Linux, and more. Before joining the How-To Geek team, Bertel wrote for the likes of MakeUseOf, MakeTechEasier, and Android Police—at the latter he wrote over 3,500 articles. He delights in helping others decide which tech to bring into their lives... and which tech to do without. Bertel graduated from the College of William and Mary in 2012 with degrees in History and Government. He has spent his entire career as a tech journalist covering Android, Linux, wearables, smart home devices, and more. Google Pixel phones sit alongside Samsung Galaxy phones and iPhones on store shelves, but no matter how much money you spend on one, Google’s phones will not be as fast as the competition — except in one area, and that's software updates. Unfortunately, as exciting as updates may be for enthusiasts, most people don’t care. It's actually worse than that. Many would say frequent updates are actually a bad thing! You buy a Pixel if you want Android updates before anyone else This can be a blessing and a curse Android devices come in all shapes and sizes from a vast number of companies. Most run older versions of Android, and untold millions never see an update from one major version to the next. These are destined to hit the landfill running the same version of Android that they shipped with. This isn’t the case with Google Pixels. These phones receive regular system updates, and they’re usually the first to receive an over-the-air update when the latest version of Android is fully baked. I’m writing these words on a Motorola Razr Fold, and by the time it gets an Android 17 update, Pixels will be getting Android 18 (and I’m being optimistic). This is exciting for those of us who love the latest Android features, but it is a non-issue for most people shopping for a phone. By and large, most people can’t tell you which version of Android they’re running or what has changed from one version to the next (and it's getting harder for us enthusiasts, too). What they can tell you is that installing an update is annoying, with no good time to restart their phone. Most people want their phones to be static appliances that they can depend on. Saying a device receives updates often means it’s an appliance most likely to change out from under you. Pixels aren’t faster at anything else In nearly all areas of performance, Pixels have fallen behind Apathy toward software updates would be less of an issue if Pixel phones were fast in other areas. People initially bought Pixel phones because they were a good value. In the early days, buying a Pixel was a way to get similar performance without paying as much as you did for an iPhone or a Galaxy S phone. Now a Pixel costs the same, and its performance has fallen behind. At the same time, a Pixel costs more than it ever has, and the power gap between a Pixel and an iPhone has only widened. The iPhone's CPU is so good that Apple has literally crammed it into a laptop. Samsung's Snapdragon chip is no slouch either. I've used Samsung DeX on a 4K monitor, and it ran smoothly no matter what I threw at it. The Tensor chip in Pixel phones is great for everyday use, but if you really push the hardware, you’ll eventually notice it’s just not at the same level. To make matters worse, Pixel phones take longer to charge because they cap out at 30W. Apple and Samsung have both made the leap to 45W, which is only marginally impressive when you consider that my three-year-old Moto Edge+ 2023 still charges faster with 67W speeds (my newer Razr Fold maxes out at 80W!). More frequent updates do not mean Pixels are more stable Just the opposite, actually I loved the idea of a Nexus phone back when I first started covering Android. Unfortunately, my experience owning one was abysmal. The phone regularly missed calls without even telling me, failing at its job as a phone. Google software has come a long way since then, but I still run into issues. In some ways, this is to be expected when using a device that's on the bleeding edge. It can be frustrating when an Android phone takes a long time to get the newest version of Android, but that also gives developers time to iron out the bugs. Pixel phones are, by definition, the first phones to encounter whichever bugs or unwanted changes are introduced by new versions of Android. Software updates can also inherently make phones run hot for a few days, even when things are working as intended. Pixels also suffer because so much of Google's software experience relies on the cloud. I recently pulled out my Pixel to use one of the few AI features Google advertised that I actually cared about: removing background noise from a video, but when I tried, Google Photos just hung. I could not get it to do what it was promising to do. Google’s obsession with Gemini only makes the problem worse. AI often fails, and in a time when what defines a Pixel is increasingly inflated with Gemini-specific features, the Pixel experience lives and dies by how reliable Gemini is. At the end of the day, Gemini is still prone to hallucinations and AI slop. Fast software updates don’t sell hardware It almost pains me to write this. After all, if Pixels weren’t so tied to the Google ecosystem, fast software updates do make me want one. But I’m not most people (not even close), and there is shockingly little else to make these phones compelling. If you like Google’s software package, then Pixels come with some charm, but if you’re just looking for a fast and reliable phone, the best thing in the Pixel’s favor is how relatively few people notice the extent to which Google’s hardware is falling behind.