Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Which phone wins?

The current battle of the Android titans is between the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. Both are fantastic flagship phones, but if you're shopping for phones, you can only pick one.

Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra is the newer, and more expensive. But the extra money nets you some of the best hardware you can buy on a phone today, backed up with Samsung's newly-refreshed software and Galaxy AI features. The Pixel 9 Pro XL is older, but it could still be the perfect phone for you with its bright display, strong cameras and a cheaper price.

This comparison of the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Pixel 9 Pro XL will take you through all of these features bit by bit. After thorough testing of both phones, we'll give you a fair rundown of both devices' capabilities, so you can make the right choice.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Pixel 9 Pro XL: Specs

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Price and availability

Samsung started selling the Galaxy S25 Ultra in February 2025, with the basic 256GB version costing $1,299. The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is older, having launched in August 2024. It starts at $1,099, $200 less than the S25 Ultra, but you also get half the default storage: 128GB.

The Pixel 9 Pro is obviously the more affordable of these two phones. Even if you pay extra for 256GB storage, it's still $100 less than the Galaxy S25 Ultra. But Samsung's phone comes with a lot of hardware that the Pixel can't match up to, so hold on before making a final judgment of value.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Design and display

The Galaxy S25 Ultra and Pixel 9 Pro XL both share some similar looks, with their flat sides and rounded corners, and large displays with centred punch-hole selfie cameras on the front.

But around the back Samsung goes for separate rings for its camera blocks, while Google has all its sensors packed into a single horizontal camera bar. Google also differs by giving the Pixel 9 Pro XL an aluminum frame with a glossy finish, rather than the matte-textured titanium you'll find around the sides of the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Display-wise, the Galaxy S25 Ultra features a slightly larger 6.9-inch OLED display, with the Pixel 9 Pro XL offering a still large 6.8-inch panel. Both have 1 - 120Hz refresh rates, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra benefits from a slightly higher pixel count.

In our testing, the Galaxy S25 Ultra's display wasn't as bright as the Pixel 9 Pro XL's, but it offers better color gamut coverage, and identical color accuracy according to our figures.

Also, while not part of these tests, the Galaxy S25 Ultra does have a unique advantage in outdoor use with its anti-glare display layer, which makes it much easier to read in bright light despite its lower brightness. The Google phone doesn't have an equivalent.

Samsung offers a surprisingly wide number of color options for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Most retailers or carriers will sell you the S25 Ultra in Titanium Black, Titanium Gray, Titanium Silverblue or Titanium Whitesilver, but buying the phone from Samsung itself also unlocks Titanium Jadegreen, Titanium Jetblack, and Titanium Pinkgold as options.

Google has four colors for the Pixel 9 Pro XL: Obsidian, Porcelain, Hazel and Rose Quartz. That's half of Samsung's offering but still likely enough variety for most people.

A quick word on durability. Both of these phones are rated IP68 for dust/water resistance, but Samsung uses a newer Gorilla Armor 2 glass material for its display and back panel. On the Pixel, Google uses Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which is still tough but a couple of years older than the Armor 2 glass.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Cameras

Samsung and Google are alike in focusing these flagship phones on their photography capabilities. But out of the gate, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is superior. Its loadout of 200MP main, 50MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x, 50MP 5x and 12MP selfie cameras beats the Pixel's 50MP main, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP 5x telephoto and 42MP selfie array on camera quantity, resolution and zoom range. But let's look at some real-life comparisons to see how these specs impact actual performance.

We'll see in a lot of these photos that the Galaxy S25 Ultra generally takes brighter photos, and that's on full display with this shot of a snack kiosk. But then we see greater balance between light and shadow in the Pixel's shot, which makes it hard to pick a favorite. Brighter shots are often livelier sots, but it can draw your eye around the photo in odd ways, rather than just letting you enjoy the whole scene

Another downside of brightness is that it can drain a scene of color, which is something visible in this ultrawide photo of a Citibike docking station. The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, as well as showing a little more in shot thanks to its wider lens, has richer colors compared to the Galaxy S25 Ultra's photo.

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Stepping away from the kiosk from earlier with these 5x telephoto photos, we have the tightest competition between the two phones of any of these cameras. The Galaxy S25 Ultra's image isn't as noticeably bright as other shots we've seen from it, but it is still cooler than what we get from the Pixel 9 Pro XL. The increased sharpness of the S25 Ultra does give it a slight edge though.

In this last comparison, the Galaxy photo is the brighter one again, but the Pixel's color reproduction is closer to reality, which is normally a priority when you've got yourself or another person (in this case, my colleague John) as your subject.

If you want a more in-depth comparison, you can see more images in our Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Pixel 9 Pro XL 200 photo shootout.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Performance

Samsung managed to snag a customized Snapdragon 8 Elite "for Galaxy" to use in the Galaxy S25 series, meaning that the Galaxy S25 Ultra is way more powerful than the Pixel's Tensor G4, as we can see in our benchmark results.

It's important to note that the Pixel 9 Pro XL isn't incapable of doing intensive tasks or running premium mobile games, it's just a little slower or less sharp. The big difference in benchmark scores doesn't translate 1:1.

You get 12GB RAM inside the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but the Pixel 9 Pro XL has 16GB for better multitasking and AI processing. But things are reversed when we look at storage capacities.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra starts at 256GB storage, with 512GB and 1TB editions also offered for $1,419 and $1,659 respectively. The Pixel 9 Pro XL offers 128GB by default, with it costing $1,199 to get 256GB and $1,319 for 512GB, with the storage options topping out at 1TB again, for $1,549.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Battery and charging

Our two competitors' battery capacities are very similar, with the Galaxy S25 Ultra carrying a 5,000 mAh battery against the Pixel 9 Pro XL's 5,060 mAh. But the battery life those cells offer vary drastically.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra managed to last 17 hours and 14 minutes on our battery test, putting in eight place overall on our best phone battery life guide. The 12:54 result that the Pixel managed is sub-par for a phone of its size, falling over three hours short of the 16-hour battery life hurdle that phones have to clear to get on the guide.

Samsung wins on charging as well. Its 45W wired standard fills the phone to 71% after half an hour, while the Pixel 9 Pro XL's 37W wired option gets it to 63% in the same time.

We should also note that the Galaxy S25 Ultra has 15W wireless Qi2 charging support, but no magnets in the phone to use compatible magnetic pads. The Pixel 9 Pro XL also supports 15W charging, but only with Google's own charging stand. Otherwise, you get 12W from a generic wireless charger.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Software and special features

Our two candidates both have a heavy focus on AI features. For the Galaxy S25 Ultra, that includes cross-app actions with Gemini for both Google and Samsung apps, plus a few lucky third-party ones like Spotify, plus the Now Brief and Now Bar for convenient notifications and summarisation of your day's activities.

In the Pixel's case, you get the Add Me feature to include yourself in photos that you already took, the Reimagine tool and Pixel Studio to generate edits or full new images with AI, and the Pixel Screenshots app that collects and indexes all your screencaps to help you search through everything when you need it later.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra also comes with the S Pen included. There's no Bluetooth this time, so you don't get the same remote control-style gestures as previous Galaxy Ultras, but it is still an effective way of drawing or handwriting, and something the Pixel has no answer to.

You get seven years of full updates with both phones, although due to the gap between these two phones' release dates that likely means the Galaxy S25 Ultra will stop getting updates a year after the Pixel 9 Pro XL. Either way, there's currently no better offer for extended support in the smartphone market.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Verdict

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL offers a lot, but the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra offers even more. The S25 Ultra's extra camera and enhanced quality, better battery life and performance help it come out ahead in this comparison, but the Pixel 9 Pro XL comes close to all of that, and costs less while doing so, which could make it a better purchase for a lot of users.

If you want to look at other Android flagship options, or want to see how these phones fare against other rivals, our best Android phones guide has even more top picks for various budgets that you can check out.