The Google Pixel is in an interesting position. Technically it is the default Android phone because it is produced by Google, but because Samsung has been producing phones for much longer and has a wider global reach, it is instead the Galaxy phones that are considered the default Android phone in the eyes of many casual consumers. Thus, every time a new Android flagship comes out, it has to be compared with Samsung’s latest flagship.
Samsung’s phone beat Google’s in terms of specifications and camera quality, but Google offered a competitive experience at a much lower price point, with cameras that could compete with Samsung’s thanks to Google’s artificial intelligence tricks.
Of course, competition for cameras is fierce, with Samsung and Google putting their best foot forward. The Galaxy S22 Ultra goes all out for zoom, offering 10x optical and 100x digital. But the Pixel 7 Pro has many useful tricks up its sleeve, making it the smartest camera phone ever made.
Google Pixel 7 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Design
Both the Pixel 7 Pro and the Galaxy S22 Ultra harken back to traditional smartphone design, taking a different direction from Apple. The Pixel 7 Pro looks much more interesting with its now iconic camera bar spanning the entire width of the phone. The camera lenses, more prominent this year, immediately catch the eye and Google indicates that this device is serious about photography.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra also has a unique look, having adopted the design of the 2020 Galaxy Note. (The quad rear camera and laser autofocus are positioned in the shape of a P in the upper left corner of the device. This is an interesting look, especially when combined with the flat edges and rounded back. The Galaxy S22 Ultra looks like a brick, weighing 228 g, while the Pixel 7 Pro is thinner at 7.3 grams. Both phones are IP68 rated, able to survive immersion in water up to about 1.5 m for 30 minutes.
Display
The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s screen is a bit larger, 6.8 inches versus the Pixel’s 6.7 inches, and the aforementioned squared-off corners add additional space to the display. Although the Pixel 7 Pro’s display looks great to most people, from a technical standpoint Samsung’s panel is superior. The S22 Ultra’s screen is brighter (up to 1,800 nits of peak brightness compared to the Pixel 7 Pro’s 1,500 nits), contains more pixels, and has a more versatile refresh rate that can go down to 1Hz (the Pixel 7 Pro’s screen can only go down to 10Hz). Apart from the difference in brightness, which is noticeable in sunlight, the other display differences do not matter much. Both screens look great.
Performance
The 7 Pro’s Tensor G2 chip is a negligible step up from the Pixel 6 Pro with Tensor. It goes from two A76 cores to two A78 cores, but the clock speed is only 0.1GHz and the dual Cortex X1 cores themselves improve by only 0.05GHz, while the four A55 cores remain unchanged. Only the new TPU represents a step forward for machine learning functions. With the same 12GB of RAM, good performance is achieved, mainly due to Google’s AI expertise, but it is not enough to catch up with Samsung.
In essence, the Pixel 7 Pro has limited gains over the 6 Pro, which itself was not the fastest phone when it was launched in 2021. Although for games it “guaranteed smooth framerates without any lag,” our reviewer is concerned that it may lose some ground in future use cases with games and apps in the coming years.
Cameras
The Galaxy S22 Ultra is equipped with four cameras, two of which are telephoto cameras. The S22’s main sensor is a whopping 108MP with an aperture of f/1.8 and a pixel size of 0.8µm. The 12MP ultrawide sensor sits behind a lens with a 120-degree field of view. The two 10MP telephoto sensors have 3x or 10x optical zoom. The fifth sensor in the camera module provides laser autofocus.
The Pixel 7 Pro features three rear cameras. The 50MP main sensor (f/1.85) does the heavy lifting, combined with Google’s software magic, while the 12MP ultrawide helps capture wider shots with a 126-degree field of view. The 48MP telephoto lens has a 5x optical zoom, plus 2x when combining the main camera and telephoto with Super Res Zoom.
For selfies, the Pixel 7 Pro has a 10.8MP front-facing shot, while the Galaxy S22 Ultra has a 40MP front-facing shot. The Pixel 7 Pro has a wider field of view of 92.8 degrees for group selfies, while the Galaxy S22 Ultra has an FOV of 80 degrees.
Battery and charging
Both the Pixel 7 Pro and the Galaxy S22 Ultra have a 5,000 mAh battery, which is definitely huge. Unfortunately, neither phone wowed us in our battery life test. In this case, we asked a phone to continually recharge web pages through a cellular connection until it runs out. Modern 5G smartphones average just under 10 hours in this test. Unfortunately, the Pixel 7 Pro fell short by 8 hours and 4 minutes with the adaptive refresh rate turned on.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra came much closer, with 9 hours and 50 minutes in adaptive refresh mode. But with almost two hours more, the Galaxy S22 Ultra enjoys a substantial advantage over the Pixel 7 Pro. The discussion continues with charging. The Pixel supports up to 30W, while the Galaxy S22 Ultra can go up to 45W. It makes sense that the Galaxy will charge its 5,000 mAh battery long before the Pixel charges its own.
Final Words
The main cameras of the Pixel 7 Pro and the S22 Ultra are very similar, but Google’s phone has a better ultra-wide while the S22 Ultra has a better zoom. The Pixel 7 Pro’s software is more attractive and has some smart features, but the S22 Ultra’s software is more versatile and allows me to do more. This is a very hard-fought choice, but since there is a $200 price difference, it means that the Pixel 7 Pro is the more attractive device, provided the Pixel is on sale in your country. There is no denying that Samsung has a much larger retail reach and presence, but if you live in a place where you can buy the Pixel, it is a better value than the S22 Ultra. Unless you really need the S-Pen.
