I tested the Pixel 10’s charging with Google’s own 67W brick, and it’s still disappointingly slow

Google’s Pixel series has, to be blunt, always been pretty slow to charge. Even the Pixel 9 Pro XL’s boost to 37W (about 35W effective) still left the phone taking a sluggish 77 minutes to reach full, while the regular 26W capabilities of the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro left last year’s users waiting about 85 minutes.

Nothing has changed for the better with the new Pixel 10 series. In fact, after testing Google’s latest flagships with the company’s new 67W USB-C charger, the situation is in some ways worse than before. I’ll let the graphs do the talking.

The “good” news is that the Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro XL I tested take about as long to go from near empty to full as the previous generation — 85 and 77 minutes, respectively. However, looking at the time it takes to reach key milestones like 25%, 50%, and 75% battery, the recent models perform worse by about two or three minutes. That’s not a huge difference, but a few percentage points here and there can be significant when you’re topping up in a hurry.

This discrepancy is due to Google’s new approach to heat management this generation. The Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro XL hit lower peak temperatures than last year’s models — around 38.5°C compared to the 41.8°C I recorded on last year’s XL. This is because the Pixel 10 series is more responsive to heat and even temporarily throttles charging power to keep temperatures lower.

As the graphs show, the previously consistent high-power early charging cycle now gradually wavers and declines once the Pixel 10 series approaches 36°C or so, with far more dramatic reductions if temperatures spike above 38°C. The phones are now quite happy to spend a few minutes charging closer to just 10W to allow temperatures to fall — something that didn’t happen in previous generations, at least not under normal circumstances. Of course, this is all entirely opaque to the user; we only see the familiar barebones “fast charging” notification regardless of what’s happening.

In theory, keeping temperatures slightly below 40°C is a win for long-term battery health. While some heat is acceptable and even necessary, high temperatures accelerate battery wear and tear, speeding up degradation and reducing total capacity over time.

However, both the Pixel 10 and 10 Pro XL recorded higher average temperatures this year — 33.0°C versus 30.2°C and 33.7°C versus 32.9°C when compared to last year’s models. The new algorithm draws a fraction more power in the late charging stage to keep up with last year’s phones, resulting in extra heat at this critical time when battery voltage stress is at its highest. This may actually undermine some of the benefits of lower peak temperatures, particularly on the smaller Pixel 10.

The other tradeoff is that the Pixel 10 series isn’t as quick out of the gate as last year’s models and will almost certainly charge even more slowly if you’ve recently used the phone for an intensive task. This means a bigger gap between the fastest-charging phones and Google’s Pixels when it comes to quick top-ups.

As Google has also mandated its Battery Health Assistance (BHA) feature for the Pixel 10 series in response to dangerous Pixel-A model batteries, this leaves me with additional concerns. In fact, the observed temporary power throttling may already be part of BHA in action. The feature is designed to throttle power levels more aggressively over time and gradually limit capacity, meaning the Pixel 10 series could end up charging even more agonizingly slowly a couple of years down the line. That’s definitely not what I want in my next phone, especially as there’s no way to override the feature on the Pixel 10 like you can on the Pixel 9 series. The Pixel’s battery health page gives users no real insight into what’s happening, save for this sliver of text:

“You may notice small decreases in your battery’s runtime as your battery ages. Battery health assistance will also tune the phone’s charging speed based on adjusted capacity. You may notice a slight change in battery charging performance.”

On the one hand, it’s commendable that Google is taking battery health and temperature issues seriously. Keeping a lid on excessive heat should help batteries last well into the phone’s seven-year expected lifecycle while reducing the risk of swelling or hazardous fires. Some users may be perfectly willing to exchange marginally more temperamental charge times for a battery that lasts a few months longer before being replaced.

However, it’s hard not to feel this is a compromise entirely of Google’s own making. The company is clearly concerned about repeating the battery issues that have plagued some of its older affordable models, and that concern is hampering the Pixel 10’s peak potential — even if the actual risk remains low. A better solution would be to pair Pixels with a more reliable, safer battery supplier, even if that adds some small cost to the retail price.

Other brands don’t seem nearly as worried about longevity or safety in their premium-tier products — and they charge far faster, too. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra reaches full in just 55 minutes, while the OnePlus 13 will do the same in 35 minutes for comparable or larger battery capacities than the 10 XL, all while promising thousands of cycles before degradation. This is another generation when I can’t help but conclude that Pixel owners deserve better when it comes to charging.