Phones have generally been getting bigger and bigger for a while now. Proper compact flagships are bigger now than they have ever been.

Today, we are looking at Google’s current Pixel 9 compared directly to the vanilla Samsung Galaxy S24. Both phones are compact by today’s standards and don’t cut back on any of the respective flagship features of their family. The Pixel 9 is the more expensive of the two devices, currently retailing for around € 750 for a base model, compared to about € 650 for a base Galaxy S24.

Table of Contents:

For starters, you can compare the complete specs sheets or directly continue with our editor’s assessment in the following text.

Size comparison

As mentioned, both phones are considered compact flagships by modern standards. While they are pretty similar in their footprint, the Galaxy S24 is still smaller. It is shorter, narrower and thinner. Despite that, the difference in the display diagonal between the two phones isn’t that major – 6.2 inches on the S24 vs. 6.3 inches on the Pixel 9. Granted, with slightly different aspect ratios, but even so, the S24 arguably makes better use of the space, with noticeably thinner display bezels than the Pixel 9.

The most noticeable physical difference between the two phones is probably weight. The Galaxy S24 tips the scale at 167 grams, while the Pixel 9 is just shy of 200 grams. That said, the Pixel 9 packs a notably bigger 4,700 mAh battery, compared to the 4,000 mAh pack of Galaxy S24. So, we can’t exactly criticize the Pixel 9 too much for being heavier.

Design-wise, the two phones are actually surprisingly similar, rocking what we would describe as a “non-offensive” modern styling. Nicely rounded metal frames, glass backs and fronts, the usual. In our opinion, the camera island on the Pixel 9 is a bit more polarizing. It sticks out quite a bit from the rest of the phone’s body if nothing else.

Regarding materials, since we mentioned these briefly, the two phones are constructed quite similarly with an aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 sheets on the front and back. Samsung has some lofty claims regarding its particular aluminum, but that’s neither here nor there. Both phones have excellent IP68 ingress protection.

Since this is as good a time as any, let’s briefly compare the overall connectivity of the two phones as well. Both have pretty stacked location services, including dual-band GPS support. Both phones also offer tri-band Wi-Fi, though the Pixel 9 supports the more modern Wi-Fi 7 standard, while the S24 is stuck on Wi-Fi 6e. Both phones also offer Bluetooth 5.3 with LE support and have NFC. Both phones also have fairly capable USB ports backed up by USB 3.2 Gen 1 connectivity (5 Gbps max), and even though it is not well documented on the Pixel 9, both phones also support Display Port video output. That said, Samsung has its superior dedicated DeX desktop environment.

Display comparison

As already mentioned, the Pixel 9 has a slightly larger display of the two, though not by a lot. You are looking at a 6.3-inch diagonal at a 20:9 aspect ratio on the Pixel 9 and a 6.2-inch diagonal at a 19.5:9 aspect ratio on the S24.

Both panels also have very similar resolutions at FullHD+ and, hence, are similarly sharp in pixel density. Both panels also support a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate. That said, there is a small but potentially big difference in terms of efficiency here, namely that the Galaxy S24 uses LTPO tech for more dynamic refresh rate switching, which is lacking on the Pixel 9.

Both phones advertise very similar display brightness figures. However, our standardized testing discovered that the Pixel 9 Pro has a significant brightness advantage over the Galaxy S24. It manages to go as high as 2,232 nits, while the Galaxy S24 tops out at around 1,401 nits.

Battery life

The Pixel 9 might be the slightly bigger and heavier phone, but it also has a notably bigger 4,700 mAh battery pack compared to 4,000 mAh on the Galaxy S24.

While both phones offer what we would consider solid battery life, given their size, the Pixel 9 has a clear advantage, scoring 13:05 hours of Active use score, compared to 12:06 hours on the Galaxy S24.

Charging speed

The two phones are actually quite similar in their charging capabilities. The Pixel 9 supports up to 27W wired via PD 3.0 + PPS, while the Galaxy S24 supports up to 25W wired via Samsung Fast Charge, which is essentially also PD 3.0 + PPS. Both phones also support up to 15W of wireless charging and reverse wireless charging.

For one reason or another (different charging curve, different battery capacity), the Galaxy S24 actually has a slight edge when it comes to a full battery charge. It is hardly a huge difference, though.

Speaker test

Both phones use a hybrid stereo speaker system, with a dedicated bottom-firing speaker and an amplified earpiece as the second channel. Both phones correctly handle channel output through said speakers based on device orientation and do some clever tricks for crosstalk cancellation.

The speakers on both phones are pretty loud and sit in the Very Good category. As for the quality of audio output, we would say it’s comparable, though the Pixel 9 might have a very slight edge thanks to better mids and highs. Its lows are pretty thin, though. Not that the Galaxy S24 is a bass champ itself.

Performance

Both the Google Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S24 are flagship devices with flagship chipsets. The Tensor G4 is not performing great in benchmarks.

The Galaxy S24, on the other hand, finds itself in a rather typical Samsung-constructed pickle of its own. Depending on where you purchase your unit, it will be running the Samsung Exynos 2400 chipset (like our review unit) or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Regardless of which chipset the Galaxy S24 comes with, it will outscore the Tensor G4 heavily in benchmarks. Real-life performance in daily use, though, seems to be on par.

Neither phone has expandable storage, and both come with 128GB of space as a base via UFS 3.1 storage chips. You can also get the Pixel 9 with 256GB of space but with the same UFS 3.1 speeds. Meanwhile, Samsung uses faster UFS 4.0 chips for its 256GB and 512GB models.

The Pixel 9 is sold with 12GB of RAM in every configuration, while most Galaxy S24 units out there only have 8GB.

It is hard to say how much that affects actual performance and usability today. Presumably, Google went for the extra memory to ensure the Pixel 9 can handle better AI tasks and more complex local models.

Both companies are leaning heavily into AI at the moment, and it is hard to say that Google or Samsung is “winning”. With the Pixel 9, you get a full year of complimentary access to Gemini Advanced, which is Google’s most advanced language model.

At least, you won’t have to worry about software support regardless of which of the two phones you choose since, currently, both are expected to get up to a whopping seven major OS upgrades.

Camera comparison

Both phones have great cameras. The Google Pixel 9 has a bit of a lead in hardware as it uses a larger sensor for its main camera and a higher-resolution sensor for its ultra-wide camera with auto focus.

The Galaxy S24 has a ace up its sleeve too – the dedicated 3x optical telephoto.

In terms of video recording capabilities, only the S24 can do 8K. Other than that, both phones can do 4K@30fps and 4K@60fps.

Image quality

Let’s start with the main camera. Both phones capture binned photos – 12.5MP for the Pixel 9 and 12MP flat, for some reason, for the Galaxy S24. There is no point in beating about the bush here; the Pixel 9 has a clear advantage over the S24. The frame has more detail, better sharpness, less noise and better dynamic range. The S24 perhaps has slightly more realistic colors, but not by a lot.

Google Pixel 9: ultrawide • main • zoom • portrait

Samsung Galaxy S24: ultrawide • main • telephoto • portrait

Neither phone has a particularly impressive ultrawide camera. We like the color rendition and dynamic range better on the Pixel 9. The difference is marginal, though.

While the Pixel 9 captures excellent 2x zoomed shots with its main camera, these are not really comparable to the 3x shots from the telephoto of the S24. The extra detail and sharpness you get are clearly noticeable with the S24.

Hence, we would say that the Pixel 9 has the more powerful camera setup, while the S24 has the more versatile one if that makes any sense.

The two main cameras are seemingly a bit closer in lowlight performance, especially when it comes to detail and dynamic range. However, the Pixel 9 lowlight photos are much cleaner, with practically no noise and a lot sharper. Another win for the Pixel 9.

Neither ultrawide manages to impress in low light. The S24 has a more natural look with a lot of noise left behind. The Pixel 9 does some heavy processing, which exposes the darker areas a lot better, almost unnaturally so, but doesn’t result in more detail. Everything just looks a bit artificial.

The Pixel 9 is capable of some very clean and overly impressive 2x zoom crop photos from its main camera. There is a lot of detail in these shots and practically no noise. The S24 and its dedicated 3x telephoto still manage to capture more detail. Samsung is keeping things more natural and less processed, which is why there is plenty of noise on surfaces.

Google Pixel 9: ultrawide • main • zoom

Samsung Galaxy S24: ultrawide • main • telephoto

Both phones have pretty impressive selfie cameras with autofocus. The quality race between the two is a bit of a toss-up. We kind of like the skin texture better on the Pixel 9, but we prefer the more natural skin tones on the S24.

Google Pixel 9: selfies

Samsung Galaxy S24: selfies

Video quality

The Galaxy S24 seems to have a slight edge when it comes to 4K video capture on the main camera. There is more detail than on the Pixel 9, and everything just looks sharper. We also like the color rendition more.

As with photos, ultrawide videos are a bit of a toss-up. Neither phone impressed us in this department. Perhaps the S24 has a slight edge.

When it comes to zoomed videos, there is simply no competition. The dedicated 3x telephoto on the S24 blows the Pixel 9 out of the water.

Below we have a few framegrabs from the videos taken by the two phones at each focal length so it’s easier to compare to one another.

Google Pixel 9: ultrawide • main • zoom • low-light

Samsung Galaxy S24: ultrawide • main • telephoto • low-light

The main camera on the Galaxy S24 seems to capture slightly better 4K lowlight videos. They are a bit more detailed, sharper, and cleaner than those from the Pixel 9.

Verdict

We have to say that the choice between the Google Pixel 9 and the Samsung Galaxy S24 is a really tough one. Both are excellent and well-rounded flagships.

Looking at things purely quantitatively, the S24 seems to be the victor here. It has more “pros”, even if some of these are quite subjective. You’ll get better performance out of it than the Pixel 9. The dedicated 3x telephoto camera is an undisputable advantage, and the video recording quality is much better across all three cameras, not to mention it goes up to 8K. It’s also the lighter and more compact phone of the two. And Google’s phones don’t have an alternative to Samsung’s Dex functionality. And it’s comparably cheaper – you can get the 256GB version at the price of the 128GB Pixel 9.

The Pixel 9, however, is no slouch either. The photo image quality of the main camera was better in all scenarios, and you get AF on the ultrawide. It also has better battery life and a noticeably brighter display for a more comfortable outdoor experience, so you could say it beats the Galaxy in the areas where it counts the most.

Frankly, choosing between the two will depend on your priorities. Either phone is going to be a great pick and one that will surely last a long time, thanks to both companies promising up to seven major OS upgrades.