Google Pixel 9 Pro XL vs. S25 Ultra – Which is Better?

Transcript

I’ve had the Pixel 9 Pro XL for 6 months, and now that the S25 Ultra has been out for about a month, I’m going to put these two phones head-to-head and see which one comes out on top.

Design and Form Factor

First up is form factor and design. These two phones feel closer to each other in this category than I think they ever have. Both have flat side rails and rounded corners, the Pixel more so like an iPhone. One huge surprise with this category is weight. The Pixel is actually heavier now. That’s not a huge difference, but this is the first time maybe ever, and certainly since I’ve been tracking these two companies, that Samsung’s flagship has actually weighed less than Google’s. Unlike past years, in terms of build quality, I think both phones are pretty even.

So, who wins in this category? Well, normally I just give it to Samsung because this phone weighs less, but I can’t do that for two reasons: one, I think the more rounded corners on the Pixel are slightly more comfortable; two, while both phones have similarly sized screens, the Pixel just feels a bit smaller in your hand. I’d say it’s a tie, but if you disagree, definitely let me know in the comments.

Display Quality

Next, let’s look at the displays. Samsung here is the clear winner. Not only is its screen better at reducing glare and reflections, it has a higher pulse-width modulation refresh rate, and the display just looks better. Its colors are not only more saturated, but the display also has automatic adjustments to its white balance with adaptive color tone, and if you turn colors to Vivid in settings, Samsung will let you further manually control the white balance. The last Pixel phone that had an auto-adjusting white balance was the Pixel 4 and 4XL.

Camera Performance

Let’s compare these two camera systems. When looking at the camera system spec-wise, there are some noticeable differences, like the 200 megapixel sensor for the S25 Ultra’s wide camera compared to the 50 megapixel OCTA PD wide sensor on the 9 Pro XL. Now, by just stating those two numbers, you’re probably inclined to conclude, “Oh, Samsung’s is better. 200 is bigger than 50.” Well, that megapixel number does mean you’ll be able to digitally crop in further when taking full RAW shots; it doesn’t necessarily mean that Samsung’s phone takes overall better photos.

Samsung’s system does still include a 10x option in their camera software, but what that’s doing is just cropping in on their 5x sensor, which produces a similar result to cropping in on the Pixel’s 5x sensor. Overall photo quality for both is very good, the main differences between them being how they process photos. On last year’s S24 Ultra, I ran into a lot of problems with oversharpening in photos and videos. So far, I haven’t seen this issue with the S25 Ultra. Its photos tend to be warmer and more saturated than the Pixel’s, as we’ve seen in years past. The Pixel’s tend to be a bit darker, cooler, and slightly less saturated. They’re the most in line with if I had a dedicated camera with me, like my Sony A7 Mark II or Fujifilm X16 that I reviewed.

I think either camera system for photos is a fine choice. It’s just going to come down to which look you like better. For videos, however, there is more of a difference. Overall, just straight out of camera, Samsung’s footage at 60 frames per second 4K looks a bit more smooth and is less noisy. Also, in doing several comparison tests with falling snow, the Pixel’s autofocus detection struggled with the 5x to focus in on the correct subject, something Samsung’s system handled much better. And I’ve noticed this situation with the Pixel’s 5x in other situations too.

Also, notice the falling snow from Samsung’s phone looks a bit less choppy than Google’s. Google, for whatever reason, doesn’t adjust the shutter speed to allow for a bit more motion blur, so it looks a bit choppy. So Samsung’s system is the winner here, right? Like, it’s not like Google has some super impressive video trick up its sleeve.

Video Boost: Google’s Secret Weapon

Well, the Pixel 9 Pro has a feature called Video Boost. This feature captures a temporary larger video file on your phone and uploads that file to Google’s Cloud servers, where it is processed through an entirely different imaging pipeline compared to the one found locally on Pixel devices. Once a video has been fully boosted, it’ll be redownloaded to the device and available in Google Photos. Boosted videos, in my experience, have better detail, less noise, better colors, and are generally some of the best-looking videos I’ve ever taken with a smartphone.

Even in my limited testing with the S25 Ultra’s video capabilities, there are situations where Video Boost will just outperform it. Notice in this shot, you just get a bit more detail in the shadows of the old shed while overall maintaining a good dynamic range and not making things look more noisy. Overall, if it wasn’t for Video Boost, I’d probably give the edge to Samsung’s camera system. However, because of it, I think it’s a draw, and it’s going to come down to which look you like the best in your photos and videos. And let me know if you think there’s a clear winner in the comments.

Battery Life

Next up, battery life. Now, both phones have relatively the same battery capacity, but in my experience with the Pixel, it’s closer to 50% battery remaining by the time it goes on the charger, where the S25 Ultra is closer to 65% at the end of the day. This has been fairly consistent so far, and it’s enough of a difference to where I’m comfortable giving Samsung the win here. I don’t think the fact that I’ve had the Pixel for several months longer than I’ve had the S25 Ultra would lead to such a large difference in battery percentage that I’ve observed at the end of the day.

Just note, depending on your apps and daily usage, your experience may vary. Generally, I have 1 to 2 hours of screen time on my phones per day and 2 to 3 hours of background activity for music and podcasts.

Performance Benchmarks

Next up, performance. For everyday tasks like taking photos and videos, web browsing, listening to podcasts, etc., I haven’t noticed a difference in performance between these two phones. The benchmark scores, however, do tell a different story. The S25 Ultra absolutely trounces the Pixel 9 Pro XL’s Tensor processor in graphics and CPU benchmarks. So if you’re a mobile gamer or know you’ll want to do some processor and GPU-heavy tasks on your mobile device, the S25 Ultra is the clear winner.

Operating System Comparison

Next up, let’s talk operating systems. Now, both of these phones run Android, but the S25 Ultra actually runs Samsung’s version of Android called One UI, specifically One UI 7. One UI 7 actually feels like a pretty big change compared to previous versions and is more in line with Apple’s iOS in certain areas, like having the option to separate the notification panel away from Quick Settings. Quick Settings is now even more customizable, allowing you to add your own widgets to it.

And speaking of customizations, that’s probably the core difference between these two versions of Android, besides their overall look and feel. Samsung’s OS just has way more customization options, like being able to now choose between app drawer pages or a vertically scrolling one. With the optional Good Lock app, you can customize it even further, like increasing the number of volume steps or the color of certain parts of the OS. Google’s version of Android just doesn’t have the same level of customization, and overall, it doesn’t have as many built-in features as Samsung’s One UI.

Now, that’s not to say that Google’s phones don’t have any unique add-on features. They definitely do. Pixel Call Assist is a good example of that, with its suite of useful call-related features like Assistant Call Screening. Or there’s the Now Playing feature, which automatically identifies music playing in the background. Or Flip to Shush, one of my personal favorites, where when you put your phone face down, it automatically turns on Do Not Disturb. Surprisingly, Samsung’s default software doesn’t have a similar feature to that.

Considering that both phones get you that core Android experience, the Gemini Assistant, similar AI features, I think what will cause you to prefer one OS version over the other is the overall look and aesthetic, how many customizations you want to be able to do with your phone, whether or not you want a stylus, which the S25 Ultra has, and that enables even more functionality and flexibility with how you want to use your phone. You can write in text boxes, you can take notes with it, use it as a magnifying glass, and a lot more.

If you’re judging the OS category purely based on the customization options available, Samsung wins hands down, but not everybody cares about that, and the Pixel might have a feature more meaningful to some users. So roast me in the comments if you want, but I think this one is a tossup as well.

Audio Quality Test

Next up, mic test and call quality. All right, and here’s an example of the Pixel’s mic quality. This is me just talking directly into the phone. Now I’ll hold it up like I’m talking on the phone, and this is what its mic sounds like. It’s probably the best scenario in a studio environment.

All right, and this is how the S25 Ultra’s mic sounds. I’m just recording this directly into the recorder app on the phone. Now let me hold it up, and this is how the mics would sound if I was talking to somebody on the phone in like the best possible scenario.

All right, and this is the S25 Ultra. This is what its mics sound like.

All right, and this is what the mics on the Pixel 9 Pro XL sound like. I’m just holding the phone up to my ear like I’d be talking on the phone. Let me know what you think and if one sounded better than the other.

Ecosystem Integration

All right, lastly, let’s talk about the ecosystems for both of these phones. Now, since they both run Android, they’ll generally work with similar devices, though not always equally. Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 Pro we just reviewed are a good example of this. Their entire feature suite only works with Samsung devices, so features like their proprietary audio codec won’t work when you use the buds with a Pixel device.

Google also has some features for their devices that don’t work across all Android devices, like the Pixel Watch can automatically unlock your Pixel, or Do Not Disturb and Bedtime Mode syncing between Pixel devices, or syncing notification dismissals between a Pixel Tablet and a Pixel phone.

So overall, the ecosystems around each phone from each company are somewhat similar when talking about there being smartwatches and wireless earbuds available. When you expand outside of that, Samsung has a leg up for Windows computers and Android tablets, as well as TVs and other appliances that may come with some broader beneficial features like messaging across Galaxy devices, answering calls from your Galaxy Tablet, having your Galaxy Tablet be a second screen for your Galaxy PC, or drag a mouse across your Galaxy Book, tablet, or smartphone simultaneously while dragging and dropping content across your devices.

Samsung definitely has more ecosystem features than Google does between its devices. So if you were just picking a phone based on what other devices would work well with it, I think Samsung overall has a slight edge with their tablet, phone, and computer integrations, and they have more high-end tablet options than Google does right now.

Final Verdict and Price Comparison

So based on the form factor, performance, display quality, battery life, and other categories, the overall winner is the Samsung S25 Ultra. But there is one more category to consider, maybe the most important one of them all, and uh, that’s price. The S25 Ultra starts at $1,299, while the Pixel 9 Pro starts at $1,099, though this will vary depending on your country.

Would I pay $200 more for the S25 Ultra? Well, in general, yes, mainly because of that better display and the battery life that I’ve experienced so far. But what if the Pixel 9 Pro XL was on sale? And you can check out if that’s currently the case in our blog post link below, which shows current prices and links to other retailers for comparison shopping. If the Pixel was $300 to $400 less than the S25 Ultra, at that point, I don’t think the categories where the S25 Ultra beats the Pixel outweigh the cost difference. I’d go with the Pixel.

But depending on what parts of the phone experience you value, whether that’s performance for mobile gaming, the camera system, display, this calculation could look different for you.