Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. Google Pixel 8 Pro

• 

  Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

  Overall better

  100x Space Zoom, a vibrant, curve-free AMOLED display, a powerful S Pen and more in a titanium package. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is Samsung’s take on the traditional tablet smartphone of 2024.

  advantage

  • A better set of specs for the TwoPlus S Pen
  • Camera versatility with 200MP sensor, telephoto option
  • Titanium materials enhance interior design

  shortcoming

  • Prices rise sharply
  • A user interface can be very confusing

• 

  Google Pixel 8 Pro

  another option

  The Google Pixel 8 Pro is an affordable smartphone. Artificial intelligence features make capturing the perfect photo a breeze. Its bright screen and curved edges make it comfortable to use, and its battery life is long.

  advantage

  • The proven photography champion
  • Frequent feature drops push Pixel further

  shortcoming

  • Short battery life, long charging time
  • Tensor G3 SoC performance still lower than Snapdragon

The Pixel 8 Pro has been around for a while, impressing many with its intuitive AI skills and seven years of support. The new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra was announced in mid-January at the Samsung Unpacked event, and we were curious to see how it stacked up against the Pixel 8 Pro.

Can the S24 Ultra match the Pixel 8 Pro’s AI intelligence, or does its superior camera system leave the Pixel 8 Pro in the dust? We put the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and Pixel 8 Pro to the test to see how they compare.

Prices, specifications and availability

The Pixel 8 Pro was announced on October 4, 2023, and will go on sale on October 12, 2023, for $999, and is still available for that price on the Google website, although you can currently buy the unlocked Pixel 8. The 8 Pro is only $870 on Amazon. You can upgrade the default 128GB of storage to 256GB ($1,059) or 512GB ($1,179). There’s also a 1TB option ($1,399), but that model is only available in the United States. The Pixel 8 Pro comes in three different color options: Bay (light blue), Obsidian (black), and Porcelain (off-white).

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra was released on January 17. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra starts at $1,300 and is available in three storage capacities: 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is available in a variety of colors, including Titanium Gray, Titanium Black, Titanium Purple, and Titanium Yellow. If you order directly from Samsung, you can also choose from three additional colors: Titanium Orange, Titanium Blue, and Titanium Green.

Let’s take a look at some of the key specifications of both phones.

• 	Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra	Google Pixel 8 Pro
  system on chip	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 third generation	Google Tensor G3
  exhibit	6.8 inches, Dynamic AMOLED 2X @ 3088 × 1440 (505ppi), 120Hz adaptive	6.7-inch Super Actua OLED, 2992 x 1344 (489ppi) 1-120Hz, up to 2400nits
  Memory	12GB	12GB
  storage	256GB, 512GB, 1TB	128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
  Battery	5,000mAh	5050mAh, 30W fast charging, 12-18W wireless
  port	USB-C	USB-C 3.2
  operating system	One UI 6.1 and Android 14	Android 14
  rear camera	200MP f/1.7 main lens (with OIS), 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle (120°), 50MP f/3.4 5x telephoto (with OIS), 10MP f/2.4 3x telephoto (with OIS)	50MP main camera, 48MP ultra-wide angle, 48MP telephoto
  aspect	163×79×8.6 mm	162.6×76.5×8.8mm
  color	Titanium black, blue, gray, green, orange, purple, yellow	obsidian, porcelain, bay
  weight	233 grams	213 grams
  charging speed	45W wired, 15W wireless	30W wired, 15W wireless
  Protection level	IP68	IP68
  stylus	S pen	No
  Front camera	12MP f/2.2	10.5MP

Two different designs and construction materials

The overall dimensions of both phones are very similar. They’re almost identical in width, with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra being a few millimeters taller. The difference in thickness is also minimal, with the Pixel 8 Pro being slightly thicker.

Titanium and aluminum housing

Despite similar dimensions, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is about 20 grams heavier than the Pixel 8 Pro, partly due to its titanium construction. Pixel 8 Pro is made from lighter aluminum. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is about 10 grams heavier than the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max, which is also made of titanium.

The most obvious difference from the front is that the Pixel 8 Pro has rounded corners, while the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has opted for sharper corners and a more rectangular shape. Both have a circular punch-hole camera at the top of the display. The difference is more obvious at the back, where the Pixel 8 Pro has opted for a camera housing that spans the entire width of the back of the phone, which frankly looks a bit odd.

In contrast, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra sticks with the tried and trusted vertical lens stacking found on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, with three larger lenses in one row and an additional lens, flash, and sensor below. It looks much smarter than the back of the Pixel 8 Pro. There’s another key difference in the designs of the two phones, although it’s hard to spot unless you know what you’re looking for. On the bottom of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, in addition to the USB-C port, there is also a corner for the S Pen stylus.

How do the displays compare?

Pixel 8 Pro features a 6.7-inch OLED Super Actua display with always-on option. The dimensions are 2922 x 1344 and the pixel density is 489ppi. The Pixel Pro has a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and a peak brightness of 2,400 nits.

Despite being very similar in size to the Pixel 8 Pro, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra manages to squeeze in a 6.8-inch display, making it slightly larger than the Pixel 8 Pro. The lack of rounded corners may help increase screen real estate. It measures 3088 x 1440 and has a pixel density of 505ppi. The Dynamic AMOLED 2x display is designed to reduce the amount of blue light emitted by the phone, and has a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. It’s also a bit brighter than the Pixel 8 Pro, with a peak brightness of 2,600 nits.

camera war

We’ve discussed the differences in the rear camera designs of these two smartphones, but what about their performance? The Pixel 8 Pro has a triple-camera system that includes a 50MP sensor with f/1.68 aperture, a 48MP telephoto sensor with f/2.8 aperture, and a 48MP ultra-wide-angle sensor with f/1.95 aperture. The telephoto camera offers 5x optical zoom and up to 30x digital zoom. The Pixel 8 Pro has a 10.5MP camera on the front.

The battle between Zoom and artificial intelligence

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is even better, with a quad-camera system that includes a 200MP wide camera sensor with f/1.7 aperture, a 10MP telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom and f/2.4 aperture, and a 5x optical zoom sensor. 50MP telephoto sensor. Optical zoom and f/3.4 aperture, and 12MP ultrawide sensor with f/2.2 aperture. Since the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, there is also an enhanced digital zoom function of up to 100x and a 12MP front camera.

The Pixel 8 Pro is heavily promoted for its AI photography capabilities. The Best Shot feature automatically finds the best facial expressions from multiple photos and stitches them into a group photo where everyone looks good. The Magic Editor allows you to delete and even move objects in your photos, and the enhanced zoom feature uses AI to fill in missing pixels as you zoom in on your image.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra also has its own AI tool for photos. Galaxy AI editing tools allow you to delete objects or recombine images, and even suggest editing adjustments. Generative Editing can use generative AI to fill in parts of a photo’s background, and Instant Slow Motion can use AI to generate additional frames of video if you want to convert a standard video into a slow-motion clip.

Hardware and performance are not easy to compare

Pixel 8 Pro runs on the Google Tensor G3 processor, which is built on a 4nm process and is equipped with 12GB of RAM. The 5,050mAh battery can easily get you through a full day with plenty of juice left. Pixel 8 Pro supports fast charging, up to 30W, and can be charged to 50% in about 30 minutes.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, which is also based on 4nm process. In comparison, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max run the A17 chip, which is based on the faster and more efficient 3nm process. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with 12GB RAM and a 5,000mAh battery.

The battery life of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is very long. We were consistently able to get nearly two days of use between charges, which is far more than phones like the Pixel 8 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra also supports up to 45W fast charging, which means it can charge to 65% in about 30 minutes, charging significantly faster than the Pixel 8 Pro.

A lot depends on the software experience

The Pixel 8 Pro is the first phone to run Android 14, the first time Google has offered the phone an update in seven years. This means that if you buy a Pixel 8 Pro, you don’t have to worry about missing out on important security fixes because you’ll continue to get them for up to seven years.

Not to be outdone, Samsung announced that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will also support up to seven generations of operating system upgrades and seven years of security updates, which is comparable to the Pixel 8 Pro and leaves Apple behind. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra runs Android 14, but with Samsung’s own One UI 6.1 interface. It’s not the best user interface in the world and can feel a little cluttered, but it gets the job done.

On the AI ​​front, the Pixel 8 Pro unsurprisingly runs Google’s Gemini Nano AI model, which comes with a number of features, including the ability to summarize recorded conversations or provide suggested responses for chat apps. The big news for the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is that thanks to a partnership with Google, it can also take advantage of Google’s artificial intelligence models, albeit via the cloud rather than on-device.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra users can access the text-to-image functionality of Gemini Pro and Imagen 2 via the cloud and be able to take advantage of Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s onboard AI features such as real-time translation, interpreter, and chat assistance.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. Google Pixel 8 Pro: Which one is right for you?

The Pixel 8 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra are both excellent smartphones, equipped with a wide range of AI features that some other smartphones cannot yet match. They are very similar in size, have high-quality displays, and powerful hardware.

However, there are a few things that really stand out about the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. First, it has a better camera system, with an extra lens compared to the Pixel 8 Pro. It’s also made of titanium, which gives it a more premium feel, and the display is slightly larger. In addition to better specs, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra also comes with an S Pen, making it more versatile and charging faster, too. Battery life is also very impressive, far more than the Pixel 8 Pro.

That said, the Pixel 8 Pro also has solid advantages, especially its significantly lower price. It has some useful AI features not found on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, which will likely be added as Google makes more progress in AI. If you’re looking for a cheap smartphone that can easily capture great images, the Pixel 8 Pro is worth a look.