Google’s smartphones have long held a reputation of being unreliable and mid range phones with a flagship price. While that may have been true for earlier versions, the most recent revisions have proven that Google is serious about remaining in the smartphone market.

The new camera layout on the Pixel 6 and 7 is not only visually appealing but also serves a purpose that most other smartphones don’t offer. The phone doesn’t wobble when laid flat on a table. While it may seem like a small issue, the camera bumps on most other smartphones are getting ever larger (I’m looking at you, iPhone 14) and table wobble is getting more severe. It’s one of the little things that you don’t think about when buying a phone, but you’ll notice every day.

The software experience on Google phones has always been the Pixel lineup’s greatest strong suit. Android is developed by Google, so they have a unique opportunity to tailor their software to play well with their hardware. Android releases always come out first on Pixel phones, and Android often feels the most polished when it is experienced through Google’s lens.

And now, we need to talk about Tensor. While it has enabled certain headlining features that weren’t previously possible (namely camera improvements) it still lags behind the competition. Literally. Apple’s smartphone SOCs have always been far ahead of their Android-oriented counterparts, but Qualcomm’s snapdragon processors are catching up. Google’s Tensor, on the other hand, doesn’t stack up. Here’s a quick comparison of the Geekbench scores of Apple’s, Qualcomm’s, and Google’s smartphone processors:

Google needs to ramp up their performance game if they hope to compete with Samsung and other Android manufacturers.

But now, I get to write about the good things about Tensor. Smartphone camera quality has become increasingly about the quality of the post-processing, rather than the quality of the sensor. Apple has demonstrated this very well, as most of their phones have stuck to a 12 megapixel sensor while still pumping out some of the best smartphone-shot photos yet. Apple achieves this by being able to tailor their hardware and software to maximize image quality, and now Google can do the same. The Pixel 6 series impressed the entire tech community with their phenomenal photos, and the Pixel 7 lineup is another step up. The Pixel 6a even got the most votes in MKBHD’s best smartphone camera contest, with the Pixel 7 Pro coming in with a close second. With camera quality being one of the most important factors to many people when choosing a smartphone, the Pixel lineup is clearly a strong competitor.

With all that in mind, why all the criticism for the Google Pixel?

It seems to me like, in an Apple and Samsung dominated smartphone world, Google is the quiet successor to the smartphone throne. As an avid iPhone user, my next smartphone will very likely be a Pixel, which is not something I thought I would ever say.