Google Pixel 9 Pro XL vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

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.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Virtually every reviewer calls the S25 Ultra display the best on a smartphone, thanks to the Gorilla Armor 2 anti-reflective coating that practically eliminates glare in sunlight, the 2,600-nit peak brightness, and the sharp 1440p LTPO panel. A few reviewers note PWM dimming only reaches 480 Hz and peak auto-brightness doesn't always sustain.

• The anti-reflective coating makes it one of the easiest phones to use in direct sunlight and held up well to scratches over a week of abuse.
• The Gorilla Armor 2 panel strikes an almost perfect balance between glossy and matte, with 2,600-nit peak brightness that dazzles in any environment.
• The S25 Ultra's anti-reflective screen eclipses every other smartphone right now, especially under harsh sunlight.
• After six months of use it is simply put: the best display I've ever seen on mobile — the bezels, brightness and colors are unbeatable.
• The low-glare, bright LTPO display is a strength, but PWM dimming is only at 480 Hz which can bother sensitive eyes.
• The display still only hits around 850 nits with the manual brightness toggle, so you rarely see the full peak brightness outside of HDR.
• Even without a huge display upgrade, this is still absolutely one of the best displays — super crisp, very bright, high-refresh-rate LTPO.
• Slimmer bezels grow the screen to 6.9 inches without making the body larger, and the Gorilla Armor 2 glass looks great.
• r/Android commenters who upgraded from the S23 Ultra call out the titanium body and the non-reflective screen as the two features they actually notice day-to-day.

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.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

The 5,000 mAh battery is unchanged but the more efficient chip pushes real-world endurance comfortably beyond a day — Engadget measured 29h 27m video runtime, Mrwhosetheboss got nearly 9 hours of screen-on time. Wired charging tops out at 45W, wireless at 25W. The Qi2 Ready implementation without built-in magnets is a consistent frustration, and Reddit users openly say the OnePlus 13's silicon-carbon battery was the more exciting release this year.

• Most days end with 60 percent left over — good but not amazing for a modern flagship.
• Local video rundown lasted an incredible 29 hours 27 minutes — almost two hours longer than the S24 Ultra.
• Battery life is just under 9 hours of total screen-on time per charge, regularly ending days with 30-40 percent remaining.
• Standby time after half a year of use remains excellent — never a single battery issue during long-term testing.
• Qi2 Ready is frustrating — you need a third-party magnetic case for MagSafe-like functionality, and some cases have weak magnets that pop off.
• Samsung is cutting corners by calling the phone Qi2 Ready without including magnets, and as the biggest phone maker it should do better.

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.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

One UI 7 on Android 15 is Samsung's biggest skin update in years and earns broad praise for polish. Gemini replaces Bixby as the default assistant on long-press and gains cross-app actions, though the experience is uneven — some reviewers report magical moments, others catch hallucinations. Samsung has committed to seven years of updates, and Galaxy AI is free only through the end of 2025. The r/gadgets thread is openly hostile toward the AI pitch — most top comments view it as bloat, tracking, or a distraction from real hardware progress.

• Gemini can put events on the calendar, but it also hallucinates recipes and insists flights leave the wrong city — AI makes things up a lot.
• Galaxy AI features will be free only through the end of 2025, so don't be surprised if the AI phone comes with an AI subscription fee.
• Having two assistants (Gemini and Bixby) is confusing, and Now Brief still hasn't produced anything insightful in two weeks of use.
• Improved natural-language commands throughout the phone feel slightly magical — asking the phone to add the next Knicks game to a calendar just works.
• Samsung's AI-powered eraser tool is excellent at removing power lines and telegraph poles, and the filter system carries edits across photos.
• Seven years of major Android upgrades and security patches match the industry's best long-term support window.