Google Pixel 9 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S26

What Reviewers Agree On

• Camera hardware is unchanged for the fourth consecutive year — same 50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP 3× telephoto as the S23/S24/S25
• $100 price hike over the S25 is only partly justified by the doubled 256GB base storage
• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy is genuinely fast with headroom to spare
• Thinnest and lightest flagship in its class — PhoneArena calls it a "masterclass in ergonomics"
• 6.3-inch OLED display is slightly larger than the S25 and remains best-in-class for the size
• Battery is modestly larger than the S25 — modest but real "battery boost"
• Seven years of software updates remains the longest Android support commitment

Deal Breakers

• No camera upgrade for the fourth year running — single biggest reason to skip
• No Privacy Display, no Horizon Lock — both locked to the Ultra
• No Qi2 magnetic charging despite the category moving to it
• Still 25W charging in an era where even mid-range Chinese phones ship 80W+
• $899 price is hard to justify against a discounted S25 at $599–699
• Design changes are minimal — most reviewers cannot tell an S26 from an S25 at a glance

Samsung Galaxy S26