Google Pixel 9 Pro XL vs Nothing Phone (4a)

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL

A 6.8-inch LTPO 'Super Actua' OLED at 120Hz with a 3,000-nit peak — one of the brightest, best displays on any phone.

• An improved 6.8-inch Super Actua LTPO OLED, 486ppi, 120Hz, up to 3,000 nits peak with always-on display.
• Peak brightness rose to 3,000 nits (up from 2,400); measured a remarkable 2,365 nits in adaptive mode and 1,300+ nits manually.
• The new Actua-class display is 35% brighter than the Pixel 8 — better than both the iPhone 15 and Galaxy S24.
• The non-typical 1,344x2,992 resolution at 486ppi keeps text and content crisp.

Nothing Phone (4a)

A genuine highlight for the price — a big 6.78-inch 120Hz AMOLED that's bright, sharp and HDR-capable, beating similarly priced rivals.

• 6.78-inch AMOLED, 120Hz, 2160Hz PWM, HDR10+, 800 nits typical / 1,600 nits HBM / 4,500 nits peak at 1224x2720 (440ppi).
• The 6.78-inch display is 23% brighter than the 3a, reaching 1,600 nits outdoors with a 4,500-nit HDR peak.
• Brightness goes up to 4,500 nits peak, remaining easily readable outdoors — the display is very strong for this price range and one of the standout features.
• In the real world it hits around 700 nits peak SDR and ~1,550–1,600 nits in HDR, with 460ppi and dynamic 120Hz.

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL

A 50MP wide, 48MP ultrawide and 48MP 5x telephoto plus a 42MP selfie. Excellent computational photos, but the hardware was barely updated and it lost a shootout to the iPhone.

• It takes incredible photos, as expected from a premium phone — a class camera system.
• Camera spec: 50MP wide, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP telephoto and a 42MP front camera.
• In an iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL shootout, the iPhone won — its images looked brighter and it preserved highlights better.
• Reviewers were surprisingly critical of camera and especially video quality for a Pixel, and noted the camera hardware wasn't noticeably updated this year.
• Some units shipped with a viewfinder bug where the image tilts significantly to one side when using zoom.
• Magic Editor can auto-reframe, suggest the best crop and expand an image — the AI photo tools remain a Pixel standout.

Nothing Phone (4a)

A standout 3.5x periscope telephoto at this price and a solid main camera, undercut by an under-optimised zoom and a basic ultrawide.

• A triple setup — 50MP main, a 50MP periscope telephoto and an 8MP ultrawide — undoubtedly one of the best experiences at this level.
• The telephoto has been tweaked to a much better 3.5x (80mm) zoom factor.
• A telephoto with optical zoom at this price is great, but this is the worst optimisation I've seen on a 3.5x camera — expect disappointment if you buy for the zoom.
• The 3.5x optical-zoom telephoto is one of the biggest highlights, adding much more flexibility than most competitors in this price range, and the cameras are surprisingly capable.
• Each camera here feels better than what you'd get on Samsung at the price, and the main is solid with nice detail.

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL

A 5,060mAh battery with new 45W charging — improved over the Pixel 8 Pro, but Tensor inefficiency means the worst endurance among premium flagships.

• A 5,060mAh battery with 45W wired (37W actual, ~70% in 30 min advertised), 23W wireless via Pixel Stand and Battery Share.
• Google introduced a new 45W Power Delivery brick; measured 67% at the half-hour mark with a Samsung 45W charger.
• Still the worst battery life of the premium phones due to the weak Tensor processor.
• Owner battery is ~26–30 hours on normal use, where a OnePlus easily gets ~48 hours.
• Despite the small year-over-year capacity bump (5,060 vs 5,050mAh), one owner found it has significantly more battery life than a Pixel 7 Pro.

Nothing Phone (4a)

A ~5,080mAh cell with 50W wired charging — reviewers call endurance strong, but a notable group of owners report disappointing screen-on time.

• The Nothing Phone (4a) features a ~5,080mAh cell which delivers very strong endurance in everyday use.
• The battery grew slightly — about 80mAh in most markets but a more meaningful 400mAh in India — with a 50W PD unit recommended on the box.
• Several owners report only 4–6.5 hours of screen-on time with moderate use — worse than other phones with similar ~5,000mAh batteries.
• Battery life on this phone is excellent in everyday use.

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL

The Pixel 9 Pro XL's deepest strength — the best on-device and Gemini AI suite of any phone, plus seven years of updates and a year of Gemini Advanced.

• Google continues its push for more AI-powered features alongside a more durable design and a new compact Pro model.
• Gemini Advanced is included for a year — roughly a $240 value bundled with the phone.
• The new Screenshots app, which uses AI to recognise text within saved screenshots, is a standout software feature.
• Some units suffered post-Android-16 connectivity loss (no calls/texts/data away from Wi-Fi until a restart), an OS-update reliability concern.
• Setup was the best the owner had ever experienced, including seamless conversion of a Verizon SIM to eSIM.

Nothing Phone (4a)

Near-stock Nothing OS is repeatedly singled out as one of the best, cleanest and most customisable Android experiences at any price.

• The UI is pretty much stock Android, which is the best Android experience — Nothing and Pixel offer the best Android experience.
• While hard to compare to Samsung's far more customisable One UI, Nothing's OS is one of the best ways to experience Android.
• The in-house gallery, voice recorder and weather apps have wonderful design consistency, with everything else left as Google's clean defaults.
• The home screen is extremely customisable with built-in and user-made widgets — fresher, clearer and bolder than iOS.