Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Pixel 9 Pro XL: Does Google Have a Fighting Chance?

The Galaxy S25 Ultra, with its massive screen, four-camera setup, and powerful Qualcomm chipset, is a beast. But if you're thinking about Samsung's latest flagship and the Pixel 9 Pro XL, which one should you choose? Let's figure it out.

Price and Availability

The Galaxy S25 Ultra (256GB) costs $1,299.99. Those interested in buying the phone can pre-order it from the company's website. Regular sales commence on February 7, 2025. The Pixel 9 Pro XL is available in a 128GB variant that costs $1,099, while the 256GB variant costs $1,199. Both variants are available at a $100 discount (when activated immediately) at Best Buy.

Galaxy S25 Ultra Is Slimmer, but Pixel 9 Pro XL Weighs Less

Galaxy S25 Ultra

With a vertically-stacked camera array (that consists of protruding lenses), a grade-five titanium frame, and Corning's Gorilla Armor 2 front/back, the S25 Ultra has a distinct appearance. Instead of the boxy corners on the S24 Ultra, this year's Ultra has rounder edges for a more comfortable in-hand feel. Further, the phone measures 162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2 mm and weighs 218 grams.

The Pixel 9 Pro XL features a horizontal pill-shaped camera array (that ends right before the frame's edge), an aluminum frame, and a Gorilla Glass Victus 2 front/back. Compared to the S25 Ultra, the Pixel has even rounder corners. While the phone is exactly as long as the Ultra, it is 1.0 mm narrower, 0.3 mm thicker, and weighs three grams more.

Holding the phones side-by-side, you'll realize that the bezels and the punch-hole notch on the Pixel 9 Pro XL are more prominent than those on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. In fact, the latter has one of the thinnest bezels on a smartphone, including 2024's Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Samsung and Google flagships feature an IP68 dust and water resistance rating, implying that they can survive up to 1.5m of submersion for up to 30 minutes.

If you get the Galaxy, you have to choose from seven color options: the regular shades include Titanium Black, Titanium Gray, Titanium Silver Blue, and Titanium Silvershadow, while the online-exclusive shades include Titanium Jadegreen, Titanium Jetblack, and Titanium Pinkgold.

In comparison, the Pixel 9 Pro XL ships in four colors: Porcelain, Hazel, Obsidian, and Rose Quartz.

Pixel 9 Pro XL Offers a Brighter Screen

The 2025 Samsung flagship has a 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen that supports LTPO technology (1-120Hz) and a peak brightness of 2,600 nits. The panel has a resolution of 3,120 x 1,440 pixels (498 ppi).

The Pixel 9 Pro XL has a nearly similar 6.8-inch OLED screen with support for LTPO technology (1-120Hz), but it can achieve a peak brightness of 3,000 nits. The panel provides a resolution of 2,992 x 1,344 pixels (486 ppi).

Some common features of both the phone displays include support for HDR10 video format, always-on functionality, and Corning's Gorilla Glass protection. However, the S25 Ultra packs the Gorilla Armor 2 glass, which is more scratch-resistant than the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the Pixel 9 Pro XL and features anti-reflective properties.

With the S25 Ultra, you get the S Pen, which enables note-taking, precise editing, and system navigation. What's important to note is that the built-in stylus has lost all the Bluetooth-based features.

Snapdragon 8 Elite (3nm) vs. Tensor G4 (4nm)

As I mentioned in the comparison between the vanilla Galaxy S25 and the Pixel 9 Pro, the Tensor G4 (4nm) is no match for the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy (3nm), especially when it comes to raw performance, scoring high on benchmarks, and handling heavy tasks like video games for longer. Even so, Google has optimized the chipset to perform well in users' day-to-day tasks.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy comprises two 4.47 GHz prime cores, the capable Adreno 830 GPU with support for improved ray-tracing and Vulkan Engine API, up to 16GB of LPDDR5X, and 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. With the advanced Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, the chipset can easily handle on-device GenAI features.

On the Pixel 9 Pro XL, you get the Tensor G4 SoC with a 3.1 GHz prime core, the Mali-G715 MC7 GPU, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and up to 1TB of UFS 3.1 storage. While the prime core's clock speed isn't quite there yet, the smartphone memory and storage are relatively slower. However, that doesn't stop it from running the slew of Google AI features.

If you're buying a phone strictly for its performance, go with the S25 Ultra. However, if you're in it for the experience and not the numbers, the Pixel 9 Pro XL stands a fair chance.

Galaxy AI vs. Google AI

The Galaxy S25 Ultra runs on One UI 7, which provides multimodal agentic AI experiences. It better understands natural language and can perform complex tasks (ones that involve multiple steps) with a simple voice command. With improved Circle to Search and on-screen awareness, the Galaxy AI offers personalized solutions and suggestions.

On the other hand, the Pixel 9 Pro XL runs on Android 15, which offers features like the Gemini AI voice assistant, Pixel Studio for creating images or stickers, Pixel Screenshots, which allows you to search for information within screenshots, a new AI-integrated Weather app, and Call Notes. Google also equips its operating system with Theft Detection, Private Space, and App Pairing.

Both manufacturers promise to provide seven years of operating system updates and security fixes.

S25 Ultra Offers Higher Zoom Range

Galaxy S25 Ultra

The Galaxy S25 Ultra boasts a four-camera setup, including a 200MP (f/1.7) primary camera, a 50MP (f/1.9, 120°) ultrawide camera that doubles as a macro shooter, a 10MP (f/2.4, OIS) camera with a 3x telephoto lens, and a 50MP (f/3.4, OIS) camera with a 5x periscope telephoto lens. Then, there's the 12MP (f/2.2) selfie shooter on the front.

The camera array enables features like 100x Space Zoom, 8K videos at 30 fps, 4K videos at 120 fps, and 10-bit HDR videos. In addition to the standard features, the S25 Ultra can shoot better footage in low light, gets the new Audio Eraser feature, a virtual button to control the depth-of-field in Expert RAW mode, an improved Portrait Studio, and new filters.

Although the Pixel 9 Pro XL features three camera sensors, the ones included are pretty good. They are the 50 MP (f/1.7, OIS) primary sensor, the 48MP (f/1.7, 123°) ultrawide sensor with autofocus, and the 48MP (f/2.8, OIS) sensor with a 5x periscope zoom lens. On paper, the Pixel's ultrawide camera features a bigger aperture opening and covers a broader field of view.

On the front, the Pixel 9 Pro XL gets a 42MP (f/2.2) ultrawide selfie shooter. The handset offers features like Super Res Zoom (up to 30x), Macro Focus, Face Unblur, Magic Editor, and Magic Eraser for capturing pictures. Some video-related features include 8K recording at 30 fps, Night Sight Video, Audio Magic Eraser, wind noise reduction, and Audio Zoom.

Both Phones Should Easily Outlast a Day of Regular Usage

The S25 Ultra packs a 5,000 mAh battery that supports 45W wired charging, 15W (Qi2-ready) wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging; Samsung says that the battery cell can provide up to 31 hours of video playback.

Similarly, the Pixel 9 Pro XL also gets a 5,060 mAh battery that supports 45W USB-C charging, Qi-certified wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging. Instead of giving us an estimated video playback time, Google says the Pixel provides over 24 hours of battery life.

You Get Satellite Connectivity on Both Phones, but There's a Catch

With regards to connectivity, both the Android flagships support sub-6 GHz and mmWave 5G networks, along with Wi-Fi 7, GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C 3.2 port for charging and transferring data. However, the S25 Ultra supports Bluetooth v5.4 instead of v5.3 on the Pixel 9 Pro XL.

Another similarity between these smartphones happens to be their ability to communicate via satellites. Unfortunately, the feature doesn't work on the Galaxy S25 series (yet). Conversely, the Pixel 9 series utilizes it as the Satellite SOS feature.

Which Phone Is Right for You?

Between the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Pixel 9 Pro XL, choose the phone that best fits your needs and budget.

If you want the biggest possible screen, you can utilize the raw processing power of the Snapdragon 8 Elite, and if you fancy clicking highly zoomed-in pictures, you can't go wrong with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The agentic AI experience is the cherry on the top, allowing you to solve complicated queries and complex tasks with simple voice commands.

However, if you prefer a stock Android experience over One UI, like how the Pixel 9 Pro XL's design stands out in a group of smartphones, and like Google's photography algorithms, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is the absolute best smartphone the company has on sale. The handset also offers a bunch of useful AI-based features that are enough for regular users.

So yes, Google does have a fighting chance, a solid one, but it all depends on what you want from your smartphone and how much you're willing to pay for it.

• 

  Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

  The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a top-of-the-line smartphone with a 6.9-inch QHD Dynamic AMOLED 2X display and a 120Hz refresh rate. It boasts the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 12GB of RAM, and a 5,000mAh battery with 45W Super Fast Charging 2.0.

  See at SamsungSee at T-MobileSee at VerizonSee at AT&T
• 

  Google Pixel 9 Pro XL

  $1025 $1099 Save $74

  The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL offers an expansive 6.8-inch Super Actua display, combined with the powerful Tensor G4 processor and 16 GB of RAM for top-tier AI performance and advanced photography. It features Google's most advanced camera system, including a pro triple rear camera and a 42 MP front camera, all within a sleek design starting at $1,099.

  See at Google Store$1025 at AmazonSee at Best BuySee at Verizon

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