Introduction
Comparing two devices that are still a secret is always difficult, but thanks to the modern smartphone reality where leaks and rumors rule our daily lives, we can make some educated guesses and get by.
The Pixel 9 Pro is already close to its unveiling date. Google surprisingly announced that we’ll be getting a bunch of new devices on August 13, so there are fewer variables at play. The iPhone 16 Pro, on the other hand, is still a couple of months away. Apple typically pulls back the curtain on its new flagship phones around September 22.
Can the new Pixel 9 Pro challenge the iPhone Pro, an already established smartphone icon? Today we’re going to try to find out. Keep in mind that since neither of these two models are official, our information is based on leaks, rumors, and two decades of experience in the industry.
Expected differences between Pixel 9 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro:
| Pixel 9 Pro | iPhone 16 Pro |
|---|---|
| Similar size, probably a little bigger. | A more compact phone |
| 6.24-inch display about the same size as the iPhone 16 Pro, 120Hz refresh rate | 6.3-inch display, ProMotion 120 Hz |
| Triple camera, including a telephoto, the main camera is 50MP, 48MP ultra-wide angle, 48MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom | Similar camera system, new custom-made 48MP Sony IMX803 stacked sensor for the main camera, 48MP ultra-wide, tetraprism telephoto with 5x optical magnification. |
| More RAM with 12 GB | Less RAM with 8 GB, but it’s not that important |
| Base storage of 128 GB | Doubles the base storage to 256 GB |
| Larger 4,575mAh battery that will potentially deliver better battery life | A smaller 3,577 mAh battery |
| Wireless charging, potentially faster wired charging | Slow wired charging, MagSafe wireless charging |
Table of Contents:
Design and display quality
Different but similar
This year, the iPhone 16 Pro is expected to grow in size, owing to the 6.3-inch display we’re expected to see on the Pro model. The Google Pixel 9 Pro, on the other hand, will likely shrink to 6.24 inches to make room for the newest addition to the line, the Pixel 9 Pro XL.
So, whether intentional or not, these two phones will end up being very similar in size, weight, and display specs. What remains different is the design.
The Pixel 9 Pro features a redesigned camera bar on the back. The “bar” doesn’t run the entire length of the device, but instead juts out like a walkway. The overall shape is different, giving the Pixel 9 Pro a completely different design style. The sides are also flat, with no curvature on the front or back, making the Pixel feel similar to an iPhone.
Speaking of which, the iPhone 16 Pro is expected to maintain the general design language of its predecessors, with a square camera bump housing three lenses and a front, back, and flat sides.
We also expect the iPhone 16 Pro to continue the titanium trend, while the Pixel 9 Pro will likely go the aluminum route again.
The display tech on both phones should be pretty similar. We’re expecting LTPO panels capable of hitting a dynamic refresh rate of 1-120Hz and a decent peak brightness of 2,500 nits or more. Not much else can be said at the moment. The iPhone 16 Pro will likely retain the pill-shaped cutout for the front-facing cameras and sensors with the added Dynamic Island functionality, while the Pixel 9 Pro will have a single hole-shaped camera cutout on the front.
Performance and software
Surrender to AI
Nowadays, hardware is starting to become more and more irrelevant when it comes to smartphones. On the one hand, we have more than enough power for day-to-day tasks, on the other hand, AI is becoming the main driver of innovation, and it is mostly software. However you want to put it, most AI tasks are done in the cloud, even though big companies are trying to push “on-device” AI as the main way to do it.
That said, there’s still some innovation going on, and it has implications for efficiency. The iPhone 16 Pro is expected to have the new A18 chipset, likely with the “Pro” moniker, and an upgraded NPU to handle some machine learning tasks. The Pixel 9 Pro will come equipped with the next-generation Tensor G4 chipset. Google’s in-house-developed silicon is designed with machine learning performance in mind, so despite some lackluster results in synthetic benchmarks for the latest generation of Tensors, AI performance and general everyday performance could be very similar between these two phones.
The RAM situation is again a bit difficult to compare, as Android and iOS handle apps differently. In general, iPhone devices need less RAM to get the same performance, as apps are fairly heavily optimized and only Apple uses iOS, as opposed to a large number of brands that use Android. That said, we expect the Pixel 9 Pro to have at least 12GB of RAM, while the iPhone 16 Pro could get by with just 8GB, though Apple could increase the amount due to AI requirements.
Speaking of AI again, the situation is very turbulent at the moment, and the fact that Apple has reached an agreement with ChatGPT to integrate LLM into iOS, and that there are rumors that the Cupertino company is talking to Google to have Gemini in the iPhone 16 lineup, shows that Apple is trying to catch up on that front.
So we’re not sure how this will play out, but at best these two will have similar AI magic built in, and if things go wrong, Google will still have an advantage. The same goes for software support. Pixel phones now come with seven years of major OS updates, and that’s two years longer than what Apple offers.
Camera
Closer than ever
The camera systems on both phones are subject to change. Based on what we’ve been able to gather over the past few months, the iPhone 16 Pro will most likely feature the same 48MP Sony IMX803 main sensor (there’s a chance we could see the stacked IMX903 design, but that will likely be reserved for the iPhone 16 Pro Max). We’re expecting an upgraded 48MP ultra-wide camera, as well as the same tetraprism zoom camera from the previous model, with 5x optical zoom. Rumors say there will be a new anti-reflective coating on the lenses to combat lens glare. The Pixel 9 Pro will feature a very similar camera system in terms of lenses and capabilities. We expect the device to come with a 50MP main camera sensor, accompanied by a 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 48MP periscopic zoom lens with 5x optical zoom. Of course, post-processing algorithms will play a huge role in the final result and quality of the photo, so we’ll need to take some samples and put them side-by-side for an objective comparison. Stay tuned!
Battery life and charging
Milliampere-hours don’t tell the whole story
Normally, you can’t argue or cheat with physics. Bigger batteries equal longer battery life. When it comes to iPhone devices, Apple has managed to somehow optimize them to perform similarly to their Android counterparts with larger batteries.
For example, the iPhone 15 Pro Max comes with a 4,422mAh cell, but it performs similarly (and sometimes better) than the Galaxy S24 Ultra and its 5,000mAh battery. With that in mind, we expect the iPhone 16 Pro’s 3,577mAh battery to offer similar battery life to the 4,575mAh cell we expect the Pixel 9 Pro to have.
There are some rumors pointing to faster wired charging on the iPhone 16 Pro, with numbers reaching as high as 40W. We don’t have much information on the Pixel 9 Pro, but Google could, at worst, keep the 30W wired charging from the previous generation, which would be a shame. Stay tuned for real-life battery and charging tests once we get our hands on the devices.
Audio and haptic quality
We can’t comment on audio quality and haptics as they require some testing time with the devices, but we haven’t heard anything major on that front in relation to the updates. If we are to extrapolate and also speculate that both phones will retain the speakers and haptic motors from their respective predecessors, then the iPhone should have a slight edge over the Pixel 9 Pro in both audio quality and haptics. But we need to test both to give a true verdict.
Specifications comparison
| Specifications | Pixel 9 Pro* | iPhone 16 Pro* |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 152.8 x 71.9 x 8.5 mm | 149.6 x 71.5 x 8.25 mm |
| Weight | – | 194 grams |
| Screen | 6.24 inches OLED display 120 Hz | 6.3 inches OLED display 120Hz Promotion |
| Processor | Google Tensor G4 (3nm) | Apple A18 (Pro) |
| RAM, storage and price | 12/128 GB for $1099 | 8/256GB for $999 |
| Cameras | 50MP main 48MP Ultra Wide Angle 48MP telephoto, 5x optical 10.5 MP front | 48 MP main camera 48MP Ultra Wide Angle 12MP Telephoto Lens 12MP front |
| Battery size | 4.575 mAh | 3,577 mAh |
| Loading speeds | 30W wired 23W wireless | 27W with cable MagSafe Wireless |
*-Rumored specs
Which one should you buy?
It’s too early to say who will win this intense battle, and it will more or less depend on the implementation of AI features and software wizardry. As things move in that direction, and given the lesser impact that pure hardware has on things like performance and image quality, we expect the battle to take place on the AI terrain of machine learning, chatbots, and large language models.
As soon as we conduct our extensive battery, display, performance and camera tests, we will update this comparison with some concrete numbers and a final verdict. Stay tuned!
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