The Samsung Galaxy S25 household is sort of right here – we count on to listen to official information of the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra at Galaxy Unpacked on January 22.
With this new flagship lineup supposedly ready within the wings, it’s onerous to not think about how Samsung’s newest smartphones will match up in opposition to their contemporaries.
Though individuals will all the time pit one of the best Samsung telephones in opposition to one of the best iPhones, maybe an much more attention-grabbing rivalry has emerged between Samsung’s Galaxy flagships and one of the best Pixel telephones. As the 2 leaders of the Android world, Samsung and Google are each shut collaborators and shut opponents, as Samsung depends on Google’s Android working system, and Google little doubt enjoys the inflow of customers for its numerous built-in apps that Samsung offers.
Samsung and Google stratify their smartphone lineups otherwise, but it surely’s probably that the Galaxy S25 will most intently resemble the Google Pixel 9. We’ll have the ability to give a extra detailed appraisal of how these telephones evaluate as soon as the S25 is out and we have had an opportunity to check it for ourselves, however till then, listed below are my ideas on how these two Android flagships would possibly stack up.
Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Google Pixel 9: specs
First, let’s check out the rumored specs of the Galaxy S25 versus the confirmed specs of the Google Pixel 9.
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Samsung Galaxy S25 specs (rumored) | Google Pixel 9 specs |
|---|---|---|
| Display: | 6.2-inch AMOLED | 6.3-inch OLED |
| Resolution: | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1080 x 2424 pixels |
| Refresh charge: | 120Hz | 120Hz |
| Chipset: | Snapdragon 8 Elite | Google Tensor G4 |
| Rear cameras: | 50MP broad, 12MP ultra-wide, 10MP telephoto (3x zoom) | 50MP broad, 48MP ultra-wide |
| Front digital camera: | 12MP | 10.5MP |
| RAM: | 12GB | 12GB |
| Storage: | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | 128GB, 256GB |
| Battery: | 4,000mAh | 4,700mAh |
Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Google Pixel 9: how can Samsung greatest Google’s flagship?
With the Galaxy S25, Samsung will have the ability to rating a couple of factors in opposition to the Pixel 9 just by carrying over a couple of nice options from the S24.
First of all, Samsung equips its present S24 flagships with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset, a class-leading chipset that gives loads of efficiency energy. The S25 is predicted to launch with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is probably probably the most highly effective cellular chipset ever created. It’s unlikely that the Google Tensor G4 chipset discovered within the Google Pixel 9 will even come shut in both benchmarks or real-world efficiency.
It’s potential that this might give the S25 an edge relating to AI processing, too. Though Google develops Gemini, the AI assistant that now comes bundled with Android as commonplace, a extra highly effective {hardware} platform could allow the Galaxy S25 to take higher benefit of those instruments than the Pixel 9 – actually, AI slowdown was one of many predominant issues raised in our Google Pixel 9 evaluation. With the S25 tipped to match the Pixel 9’s 12GB of RAM, it’ll be a recreation of processing energy and optimization to find out which finally ends up the sooner cellphone.
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Samsung can make the most of some momentum within the digital camera division, too. Of the ‘massive three’ cellphone makers – that is Samsung, Google, and Apple – Samsung is the one one to equip its baseline flagship cellphone with a telephoto digital camera. This naturally makes a critical distinction to zoomed photos, and provides customers a option to take extra natural-looking portraits. The Pixel 9 lacks a devoted zoom lens however sports activities the identical incredible predominant digital camera because the Pixel 9 Pro, with actually wonderful low-light images and post-processing. Still, as our Samsung Galaxy S24 evaluation notes, Samsung’s digital camera system is probably the most versatile available on the market, and most rumors counsel the S25 is prone to proceed the pattern by bundling in the very same triple-camera setup.
We in all probability received’t see such a noticeable rift in different areas. Display-wise, the 2 telephones may look very comparable, with the S25 rumored to sport a 6.2-inch 1080 x 2340 120Hz show, whereas the Pixel 9 comes geared up with a 6.3-inch 1080 x 2424 120Hz show – close to sufficient similar, side ratio and coloration accuracy apart.
We don’t count on a revolution in design from the S25 collection, both, which leaves us with little to debate about these two rounded slab telephones. As for the battery, the Pixel 9 wins on paper with its 4,700mAh cell, in comparison with the 4,000mAh battery we count on to see the S25 launch with, however this may very well be offset by software program optimization and the effectivity of the S25’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.
One space the place Google has a strong probability of besting the S25 is within the software program division. Samsung’s One UI is notoriously extra finicky and fewer polished than different implementations of Android, and whereas we’ve heard quite a few credible {hardware} rumors concerning the upcoming S25 collection, phrase of One UI 7 has appeared tougher to come back by (a One UI 7 beta is at the moment reside, but it surely would not seem groundbreaking).
Google’s Pixel Launcher is as near ‘inventory’ Android as you will get lately and presents an altogether less complicated expertise with a couple of neat options, like a devoted screenshots app. The S25 is prone to be a way more highly effective cellphone hardware-wise, however simply how a lot of the person expertise this accounts for shall be as much as every particular person person.
Personally, I’m torn; the {hardware} energy of the S25 is prone to be spectacular, however the extent to which the typical person can really make use of this energy stays to be seen.
The S25 is predicted to launch at a beginning worth of $799 / £799 / AU$1,399, the identical because the Google Pixel 9 (besides in Australia, the place the Pixel is AU$50 cheaper), and telephones of this worth are already wonderful at performing on a regular basis duties like messaging and internet shopping. Pro customers will have a tendency in the direction of the S25 Ultra and Pixel 9 Pro anyway, so Samsung’s success with the bottom S25 may rely extra on person expertise and leveraging processing energy for AI.
In any case, with the cellphone’s official announcement certainly simply across the nook, it appears we received’t have to attend lengthy to see for ourselves.
