Pixel 9 Pro vs Galaxy S25: The fight for the Android crown
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Intro
This year, Google has chosen to expand its Pixel lineup by adding (or, should we say, reviving) a XL model. This means, on the other hand, that the Pixel 9 Pro is no longer the big guy, in terms not only of specs, but also in terms of size.
The Pixel 9 Pro is now much closer to the Pixel 9, and with its 6.24-inch screen, it's more of a competition to the upcoming Galaxy S25 than any other phone from Samsung's portfolio.
The Pixel 9 Pro is now much closer to the Pixel 9, and with its 6.24-inch screen, it's more of a competition to the upcoming Galaxy S25 than any other phone from Samsung's portfolio.
The Pixel 9 lineup was officially revealed on August 13, but the Galaxy S25 series is still under wraps, so our comparison relies on leaks and rumors when it comes to the Samsung phone, as well as our two-decade-long experience in the industry, but nevertheless, it's a glimpse at a very important fight that's coming.
The fight for the best Android phone. Let's get to it!
Pixel 9 Pro vs Galaxy S25 expected differences:
| Pixel 9 Pro | Galaxy S25* |
|---|---|
| Still larger despite Google shrinking the Pro to make room for the XL model | A more compact phone |
| Larger 6.3-inch display, 1-120Hz refresh rate | A smaller 6.1-inch screen, 120Hz refresh rate |
| Triple camera with the typical wide-ultrawide-telephoto combination | Similar triple camera system |
| Base memory configuration is 12GB RAM | Expected to get 12GB RAM |
| Equal native storage (128GB) | 128GB of storage in here as well |
| Larger 4,700mAh battery that will potentially deliver better battery life | A smaller 4,000mAh battery |
| 45W wired charging, wireless | Slower 25W wired charging, wireless charging |
Table of Contents:
Design and Display Quality
The future is flat?
The Pixel 9 Pro is here, Google unveiled its new compact Pro flagship during the August Made by Google event. The design language has changed quite a bit, and it's the first major design shift since the Pixel 6 series and the introduction of the Camera Bar.
Here we have a different feel and look altogether, with flat sides, flat front and back, and a more traditional, albeit horizontal, camera bump, and oh, boy is this bad boy huge or what? Seriously, the camera bump on the Pixel 9 series has been called a "shelf" by many of our colleagues in the industry.
The Galaxy S25, on the other hand, is months away, and its design is speculative at best. Some say it will be a radical change, others think that Samsung will retouch the current S24 design into something similar.
What we think is that Samsung will most likely stick to the same flat S24 design with minor changes to the camera bump on the back, and overall, these two phones might end up looking very similar, both in size and feel.
Size-wise, given that the Galaxy S25 is expected to grow a little to accommodate a 6.3-inch screen, and with the Pixel 9 Pro trimmed down to a 6.3-inch screen diagonal, these two might end up very close in size and weight.
Moving to the displays, as we've mentioned, screen sizes will be pretty close, and screen tech will probably match between the two as well. We expect both phones to feature LTPO panels with a dynamic refresh rate of 1–120 Hz. The brightness should also be very similar at around 2,500–3,000 nits peak. The Pixel 9 Pro already broke cover and it comes with an LTPO screen indeed with brightness numbers of 2000 nits HDR, and 3000 nits peak.
Here we have a different feel and look altogether, with flat sides, flat front and back, and a more traditional, albeit horizontal, camera bump, and oh, boy is this bad boy huge or what? Seriously, the camera bump on the Pixel 9 series has been called a "shelf" by many of our colleagues in the industry.
What we think is that Samsung will most likely stick to the same flat S24 design with minor changes to the camera bump on the back, and overall, these two phones might end up looking very similar, both in size and feel.
Size-wise, given that the Galaxy S25 is expected to grow a little to accommodate a 6.3-inch screen, and with the Pixel 9 Pro trimmed down to a 6.3-inch screen diagonal, these two might end up very close in size and weight.
Moving to the displays, as we've mentioned, screen sizes will be pretty close, and screen tech will probably match between the two as well. We expect both phones to feature LTPO panels with a dynamic refresh rate of 1–120 Hz. The brightness should also be very similar at around 2,500–3,000 nits peak. The Pixel 9 Pro already broke cover and it comes with an LTPO screen indeed with brightness numbers of 2000 nits HDR, and 3000 nits peak.
Performance and Software
"For Galaxy" might win this round
We expect the Galaxy S25 to feature next-gen Qualcomm silicon, namely the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. This upcoming chip will most likely be given the "for Galaxy" treatment, meaning it will be slightly overclocked to offer better performance. The Exynos situation is unclear at the moment, there's a chance we will only have Snapdragon Galaxy S25 devices due to low yields from the Samsung foundries.
The Pixel 9 Pro relies on the fourth generation Tensor G4 chipset, Google's in-house developed silicon with heavy emphasis on machine learning and AI. It's hard to judge how these two will perform against each other, and we think real-life performance will be very similar and differences will manifest predominantly in synthetic benchmarks.
The Pixel 9 Pro relies on the fourth generation Tensor G4 chipset, Google's in-house developed silicon with heavy emphasis on machine learning and AI. It's hard to judge how these two will perform against each other, and we think real-life performance will be very similar and differences will manifest predominantly in synthetic benchmarks.
For what it's worth, the Pixel 9 Pro is the first phone with multi-modal machine learning on-device, thanks to the TPU module inside the Tensor G4, capable of processing 45 tokens per second, which is, according to Google, industry-leading performance.
The Pixel 9 Pro comes with 16GB of RAM and multitude of storage options, from the base 128GB, all the way to 1TB. We expect the vanilla Galaxy S25 to try and mimic that, but we might get slightly less RAM, and no 1TB version for the Samsung phone.
As far as software is concerned, we're in the Android realm and it will be a tough AI fight. Samsung paved the way with Galaxy AI, and Google has preparing a dish full of AI ingredients for the Pixel 9 lineup, including a subscription service called Gemini Advanced, so the AI battle is heating up.
The Pixel 9 Pro comes with 16GB of RAM and multitude of storage options, from the base 128GB, all the way to 1TB. We expect the vanilla Galaxy S25 to try and mimic that, but we might get slightly less RAM, and no 1TB version for the Samsung phone.
As far as software is concerned, we're in the Android realm and it will be a tough AI fight. Samsung paved the way with Galaxy AI, and Google has preparing a dish full of AI ingredients for the Pixel 9 lineup, including a subscription service called Gemini Advanced, so the AI battle is heating up.
Camera
A typical triple affair
It's quite early to tell what the camera situation will be on the Galaxy S25. There are some rumors suggesting that Samsung might switch from its in-house ISOCELL sensors to Sony IMX models, and we can speculate that the Galaxy S25 will most likely retain the triple camera system on its back, including a wide, ultrawide, and a 3x telephoto camera, but other than that, things are shrouded in mystery at the moment.
The Pixel 9 Pro has launched already and its camera system is out in the open. Google has carried over the triple camera system from the Pixel 8 Pro, namely a 50MP main camera, a 48MP ultrawide, and a 48MP telephoto with 5x zoom. The main differences come from the AI image algorithms, there are a bunch of cool new features on the Pixel, including the Add me feature, new options in the Magic Editor, a new Panorama mode and more. Oh, and the Pixel can upscale videos to 8K using the aforementioned AI powers.
Of course, we need to fill this section with samples and side-by-side comparison images, and this will happen at some point, so stay tuned.
Battery Life and Charging
Advantage Pixel, potentially
There's a potential shift in battery capacity coming to the Pixel 9 Pro, again due to the smaller size. The predecessor launched with a 5,050mAh battery, but the 9 Pro sports "just" 4,700mAh of battery capacity. While not small by any means, it's still a downgrade. We're running battery tests on the Pixel as we type this, so expect some numbers here shortly.
The Galaxy S25, on the other hand, is expected to have the same 4,000 mAh battery as its predecessor, so the Pixel has a potential advantage here.
When it comes to charging, both of these phones aren't expected to break any records, based on what we saw from their predecessors. Google increased the power of the wired charging to 45W and cites – up to 55% in about 30 minutes - charging times, but we have to check this claim as well. As for the Galaxy, nothing is clear at the moment, the S25 might keep the 25W wired charging (which will be sad and slow), or it might opt for an upgrade (fingers crossed).
When it comes to charging, both of these phones aren't expected to break any records, based on what we saw from their predecessors. Google increased the power of the wired charging to 45W and cites – up to 55% in about 30 minutes - charging times, but we have to check this claim as well. As for the Galaxy, nothing is clear at the moment, the S25 might keep the 25W wired charging (which will be sad and slow), or it might opt for an upgrade (fingers crossed).
Specs Comparison
Here's a quick specs comparison for the number nerds out there. You can check out our full Pixel 9 Pro vs Galaxy S25 specs comparison on PhoneArena.
| Specs | Pixel 9 Pro | Galaxy S25* |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 152.8 x 72 x 8.5 mm | - |
| Weight | 199 g | - |
| Screen | 6.3-inch OLED 1-120Hz | 6.2-inch Super AMOLED 1-120Hz |
| Processor | Google Tensor G4 (3nm) | Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 (for Galaxy) |
| RAM, Storage and Price | 16/128GB for $999 | 8/128GB for $799 |
| Cameras | 50MP main 48MP ultra-wide 48MP telephoto, 5x optical 42MP front | 50MP main 12MP ultra-wide 10MP telephoto, 3x zoom 12MP front |
| Battery Size | 4,700 | 4,000 mAh |
| Charging Speeds | 45W wired Wireless support | 25W wired Wireless support |
*-rumored specs
Which one should you buy?
This would've been a much easier question to answer had Google not changed the lineup. With the Pixel 9 Pro getting smaller and closer in size to the vanilla S25, things suddenly got more complicated. On the one hand, you have Google's software experience, which is the fastest way to get every single Android update for seven long years. Couple that with Gemini and Google's resources and you have a very potent flagship Pixel phone. Probably the best one in years.
On the other hand, Samsung's AI game has been top notch lately with Galaxy AI, and the upcoming S25 will also feature the latest hot topic in smartphone silicon, the Snapdragon 9 Elite, possibly with the moniker "for Galaxy," which means it will be even faster.
Who will take the Android crown, then? It's too early to tell, but it will be a fierce fight. We will update this comparison with benchmarks and tests and give you the final verdict once we lay our hands on these phones.
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