Google Pixel 9 Pro XL vs. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra | Infinium-tech

With Google’s recent Pixel 9 series release, the company is finally challenging the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra with its top-tier Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. Both handsets are priced roughly the same right now, so this is a legitimate dilemma for many users looking to upgrade right now. Especially in the US, where smartphone choice is somewhat limited and the overall market is dominated by a few brands.

Table of Contents:

For starters, you can compare the full specs sheets or jump straight in with our editor’s review in the following text.

Size Comparison

The Pixel 9 Pro XL and Galaxy S24 Ultra are pretty big devices — with their 6.8-inch displays, we’d call them borderline unwieldy for most people. If you’ve never held either of these in your hands, it’s best to go to a store and try one on and see for size.

However, if you know which phone that is, you should notice a few nuances. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is wide and has sharp, pointed corners that make the phone feel bigger than it actually is. Some people find the sharp corners provide a more secure grip, but others find them awkward.

On the other hand, the Pixel has rounded corners and flat side frames, so it feels comfortable to hold in the hand.

In any case, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is the better option in terms of build quality. It has supposedly stronger Gorilla Armor protective panels on the front and back compared to the Victus 2 sheets on the Pixel, and it has an improved titanium frame design as opposed to regular aluminum.

Performance Comparison

The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a more boxy screen ratio, so even though both phones have the same screen (6.8-inch screen diagonal), the S24 Ultra will also give you a bit more screen real estate.

Feature-wise, both the panels are at par with each other – 120Hz refresh rate with granular controls, HDR10+ certification, etc.

In our tests, the Pixel scored excellent 2,365 nits The maximum brightness is over 1,300 nits in auto mode and 1,400 nits in manual mode. This is the brightest display on any flagship this year (maybe even before that). The S24 Ultra has a maximum brightness of 1,300 nits. 1,440 nits in auto mode.

It’s still important to note that Samsung has added a unique anti-reflective coating, which makes the S24 Ultra’s display extra comfortable in bright sunlight. Still, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is noticeably brighter, so it should easily make up for that.

battery life

In terms of battery capacity, the Galaxy S24 Ultra leads by a small margin. The handset scores over an hour of additional active use, primarily due to its longer 4G call runtime. Its video playback and gaming scores are also slightly better, but it falls behind the Pixel in the web browsing segment.

Still, if battery life is one of your top priorities, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is probably your safest bet. The Pixel’s small web browsing runtime advantage is largely negligible in this context.

Charging Speed

Neither phone is particularly fast when it comes to charging – the Galaxy is rated to charge at up to 45W, while the Pixel is rated to charge at up to 37W. Both companies have a 45W fast charger to give you as an additional purchase. There’s no proprietary technology in the chargers and both use USB Power Delivery 3.0 – they’re pretty much the same specification.

Of course, the maximum charging power rating doesn’t tell the whole story. At the 15 and 30 minute marks, both phones are equally fast or slow, depending on how you look at it.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra offers slightly faster charging up to 100%. In our tests, it completed a full charging cycle up to 100%. 1 hour and 5 minutesWhich is 13 minutes faster than the 9 Pro XL.

Speaker Testing

According to our speaker test, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is slightly louder than the Pixel 9 Pro XL, but both got a “very good” score. The difference is in the tuning. The Pixel sounds a little warmer, deeper and the mids are a little more pronounced, while the S24 Ultra’s speakers sound more flat. However, the difference is not too much, as both handsets deliver excellent sound quality.

Display

The Pixel 9 Pro XL features Google’s latest Tensor G4 chipset but this chipset is far from being the fastest in the market.

On the other hand, the Snapdragon 24 Gen 8 inside the Galaxy S3 Ultra is the top silicon currently available – it’s even slightly overclocked from the “for Galaxy” version aka the SM8650-AC.

In terms of memory, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a notable advantage. The device comes with 12GB/256GB by default and can go up to 12GB/1TB. The Pixel’s default option is 16GB/128GB and goes up to 16GB/1TB. Sure, you get more RAM with the Pixel no matter the configuration, but storage is arguably more important nowadays. 24GB on the S12 Ultra is adequate, so we’d prefer more storage instead.

Benchmark Performance

Unfortunately, we had trouble running benchmarks on the Pixel 9 Pro XL. With the Tensor G3 we got consistently lower results than last year’s Pixel 8 series, and since the scores don’t mean anything, we won’t publish them here.

Having said that, it’s probably safe to assume that the Galaxy S24 Ultra has more raw horsepower. The Pixels are notoriously slower than their key rivals and that’s been the case for generations now, so the most powerful Qualcomm chip, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, will likely be unopposed by the Tensor G4.

Camera Comparison

The Pixel 9 Pro XL has a powerful camera setup with a 50MP f/1.7, 1/1.31″ main camera, supported by a 48MP f/2.8, 1/2.55″ periscope telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom. The ultrawide unit is a 48MP f/1.7, 1/2.55″ with autofocus. On the front is an unconventional 42MP f/2.2 selfie camera with an ultrawide lens.

Coming to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, it too has a 200MP 1/1.3″ sensor with an f/1.7 aperture, but it has not one but two telephoto units – a 10MP f/2.4, 1/3.52″ with 3x zoom and a 50MP f/3.4, 1/2.52″ periscope telephoto with 5x optical zoom. The ultrawide is 12MP f/2.2, 1/2.55″, while the selfie camera is once again a 12MP f/2.2.

Just looking at the specification sheet, it seems that the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a more versatile setup thanks to the additional 3x telephoto unit. But let’s dig deeper to understand the specifics.

image quality

Photos taken with the main cameras of both phones aren’t radically different, but you’ll find the Galaxy’s shots to be slightly more vibrant. The HDR algorithm tends to brighten shadows and post-processing, although more restrained on the current S24 series, prefers punchier colour reproduction. In comparison, the Pixel 9 Pro XL has slightly muted colours and dark shadows.

Pixel 9 Pro XL: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x • 10x

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 5x • 10x

It’s hard to tell which camera does a better job in 2x crop zoom mode, but the Galaxy’s images are somewhat cleaner and slightly sharper.

The same holds true for the 5x telephoto samples. The S24 Ultra still delivers vibrant scenes with bright shadows and punchy colours and if you look closely, you can even tell the S24 Ultra is slightly sharper. Still, the difference is hard to spot, so we call it a tie. We didn’t find any noticeable difference in the 10x hybrid zoom photos either.

Although the Pixel 9 Pro XL’s ultrawide camera is better on paper, it doesn’t show any edge over the Galaxy A. It has a little extra definition, but we can’t say it’s better than the Ultra.

In low-light scenes, the S24 Ultra has the slight upper hand, delivering slightly sharper, more defined objects in both shadows and highlights. Samsung’s flagship also handles highlights and light sources better.

Pixel 9 Pro XL: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 5x

These findings become even more pronounced as you increase the focal length. Photos taken in low light at 2x zoom on the Galaxy A8 are better, while 5x telephoto images are noticeably clearer and sharper.

When it comes to ultrawide, both phones are better than one another. The 9 Pro XL’s low-light ultrawide shots are cleaner with somewhat less noise, especially in more challenging conditions, but the S24 Ultra’s shots are sharper and more detailed.

Selfies look pretty similar in terms of quality, but the Pixel 9 Pro XL’s ultrawide selfie cam has a wider FoV.

Selfie: Pixel 9 Pro XL • Galaxy S24 Ultra

video quality

We didn’t expect it to be this easy, but the winner in the video quality comparison is the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The phone consistently delivers very sharp footage from all of its cameras.

The Pixel 9 Pro XL’s video capture capabilities mostly pale in comparison, except for low-light video recording, where the Pixel’s main camera delivers sharper footage.

Pixel 9 Pro XL: 0.5x • 1x • 5x • 1x low light

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 5x • 1x Low light

Decision

Although the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s launch price was higher than the Pixel 9 Pro XL’s, the two devices are now priced similarly. In fact, the former can be found for a slightly lower price, which tilts the scales in its favor. Especially if you consider the more powerful chipset, twice the default storage, more versatile and perhaps better overall camera experience, longer battery life, more premium build, and the S Pen. Maybe not everyone cares about the stylus, but it’s a bonus worth considering. It has its own benefits and features.

Still, the software could be the deciding factor for many users who are still undecided. Both companies have a fundamentally different approach when it comes to software. The Pixel software is plain, vanilla Android with Pixel-exclusive features layered on top. Samsung’s One UI, on the other hand, is a highly customized Android skin overlay with tons of features and a very different UX. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, so it’s up to you to decide. Both OEMs promise up to 7 years of software updates.

Overall, the Galaxy S24 Ultra seems like the better choice as it has advantages in key areas, asks for a slightly lower price than its rival and offers more value in terms of features.