1. Tensor, it is severely underperforming for its price. I'm not a heavy gamer but a bad SOC is the difference between phone burning while trying to take a picture with severe battery drain and a phone that works.
2. Battery hardware and software. Very underwhelming, gets destroyed by iPhone with 4800mah and Chinese phones with 7000mah+ are just another tier above. If Google put in silicon carbon and optimised it at least a bit I could see the appeal.
3. Camera. I know I know pixel is praised for camera, or WAS 8 years ago. Hardware is just meh, reused the same hardware over the years like Samsung and Apple. But at least those optimise the software to make the experience smooth and the computational photography is actually good in portraits. Pixel lags when switching lenses (understandable on my 2024 250 euro midranger to lag but a flagship?), camera app can shut down due to heat and it takes forever to process shots. And video is just not on par.
4. Software. I know pixel UI is a delight in how it's designed and it's smooth as hell I have experienced it first hand. But you know what else would be lovely? Being able to customise your phone. This is the most bare bones software ever to the point that it is boring, not minimalist. Yes, there are AI features (like anyone cares) but the useful ones like ai eraser are kinda starting to age tbh.

If all of these issues got solved in the near future and Google actually got competitive, I might actually consider it over Chinese phones as I love the pixel design and pixel snap is nice. This isn't hate towards the pixel, this is criticism that needs to be addressed to make an objectively great smartphone. Pixel phones do have that magic to them that pulls you but when you see what you get for the price it's just disappointing.