ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Google Pixel 10’s new Professional Res Zoom makes use of AI to make 100X zoom photographs much more useable.
- Early comparability photographs with the Galaxy S25 Extremely have the Google cellphone forward.
- The ball is in Apple’s courtroom to ship a long-distance zoom on the iPhone 17 Professional that is simply as aggressive.
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I like zoom images, and I am thrilled to see Google utilizing AI to raise zoom images on smartphones within the new Pixel 10 Professional and Pixel 10 Professional XL.
I take a ton of photographs on smartphones — over 100,000 photographs on iPhone and Android — and through the years, a number of them have change into tough to inform other than the skilled photographs I shoot on Sony mirrorless cameras. However the cellphone photographs that also do not fairly measure up — and the place I nonetheless normally need to take out a giant digital camera — are the long-distance zoom photographs.
With the brand new Pixel 10 Professional and Pixel 10 Professional XL, Google is upgrading its Professional Res Zoom to seize a lot higher element by utilizing a mix of the brand new Tensor G5 chip and what Google calls its “largest AI mannequin ever used on a Pixel Digicam.”
That is an excellent use of generative AI. Google characterizes it as an “all-new generative imaging mannequin to intelligently get better and refine intricate particulars” and claims that it may well fill in a number of particulars in zoom photographs as much as 100x.
If this works, it could be an awesome step ahead for zoom captures on telephones. And the early indications are that it is fairly good. ZDNET’s Kerry Wan has already had the prospect to check the Pixel 10 Professional somewhat bit, and under is a comparability he did of the brand new Pixel 10 Professional zoom versus the Samsung Galaxy 25 Extremely zoom on the identical distance. The Pixel model is far more usable and does not look grainy and pixelated.
I have been testing Samsung’s model of its 100x “Area Zoom” for the reason that Galaxy S20 Extremely, and I at the moment use the S24 Extremely’s zoom frequently because it’s my Android day by day driver and my enterprise cellphone. Nonetheless, I solely use the 5x and 10x zoom lenses on the S24 Extremely — and I solely use the 5x zoom lens on iPhone 16 Professional Max. When you transcend these focal lengths, the photographs on each telephones get very pixelated and unusable — not less than for the sort of crisp, professional-looking photographs that I am attempting to create.
The picture under exhibits a comparability of the zoom high quality of the S24 Extremely versus the iPhone 16 Professional Max that I took throughout a night in New York.
For the photographers on the market, the 5x zoom on the iPhone 16 Professional Max is the equal of a few 120mm focal size on a full-frame digital camera, and the 10x zoom on the Samsung S24 Extremely is the equal of a few 200 mm focal size on a full-frame digital camera.
So the 100x zoom that Google is speaking about for the Professional Res Zoom on the Pixel 10 Professional fashions is an extended distance than any present commonplace lens that exists for an expert full-frame digital camera. So if Google could make these photographs usable — in contrast to the present most digital zooms on Samsung, iPhone, and different smartphones — then will probably be giving its cellphone a functionality that not solely different telephones do not have, however skilled cameras cannot match both.
This is the instance that Google confirmed of the 100x zoom in motion throughout the launch occasion for the brand new Pixel {hardware}.
That is fairly spectacular, and in the end fairly usable — probably with somewhat little bit of post-processing. Let’s remember the fact that that is clearly a daytime shot with some good cloud cowl. I might prefer to see how nicely the Pixel’s new Professional Res Zoom holds up in low mild and imperfect lighting situations. And I am going to get my likelihood quickly as a result of I’ll be testing it and reporting again the outcomes right here on ZDNET and on my Instagram.
Even when Google’s Professional Res Zoom is not excellent at 100x, if it may well successfully use generative AI to make digital zoom images a extra viable choice for taking high-quality photographs, then will probably be an enormous win.
It additionally makes me excited to see if Apple is engaged on one thing related in AI for its zoom images when it broadcasts the iPhone 17 Professional fashions in September — as a result of the one firm that may at the moment compete with Google on computational images is Apple.
