Google Pixel 8 Pro vs Galaxy S23 Ultra: Which best one
While the most hyped news that you may find on the internet right now, would be which is the better android, right? Afterall everyone needs a better phone to function their most daily tasks. And when you ask someone which is the best android phone, people would probably say, Google has better android experience while Samsung would be the most best performing category.
Well the time has come, Google Pixel 8 was released back in October, while the latest Galaxy S23 Ultra was released way back in February 2023. But as Pixel 8 Pro is trending nowadays with its high end A.I features, new Tensor chipset from Google and a brighter display, the battle is on among other android phones around. And what better way to make a comparison than setting a match with the Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra.
So, in today’s comparison, let’s take a look at Google’s Pixel 8 Pro against Samsung’s best Galaxy S23 Ultra. And find out which one would please the most with their internal hardwares.
Table of Contents
1. Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Google Pixel 8 Pro: Key Differences
| Google Pixel 8 Pro | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
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Check Latest Price of Pixel 8 Pro vs Galaxy S23 Ultra
2. Pixel 8 Pro vs Galaxy S23 Ultra: Design
When it comes to the design showdown between the Pixel 8 Pro and the Galaxy S23 Ultra, aesthetics play a pivotal role for those who view smartphones as fashion statements.
Starting with the Pixel 8 Pro, Google opts for an all-glossy finish in obsidian and porcelain colors, while the bay color sports an elegant matte finish. The absence of an exclusive pen feature is compensated by a temperature sensor beneath the LED flash, adding a unique touch. The glossy and shiny camera design exudes elegance, complemented by impeccable button placement on the right side, hosting volume and power buttons.
There is a stereo speaker and Type-C port grace the bottom, alongside precision microphones. Crafted with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on both front and back, the Pixel 8 Pro boasts top-notch build quality, fortified with IP68 water protection.
On the opposing side, the Galaxy S23 Ultra maintains a familiar design reminiscent of its predecessor, the S22 Ultra. The rear hosts 4 cameras with a subtle bump and a circular ring, offering a restrained yet sophisticated look. The button placement mirrors the Pixel, featuring volume rocker and power button on the right side.
Samsung introduces the Stylus S-Pen, positioned beside the Type-C port, elevating functionality with note-taking, picture capture, and presentation slide capabilities. The Galaxy S23 Ultra shines in the color department, providing options like Phantom Black, Green, Cream, Lavender, Graphite, Sky Blue, Lime, Red, and a premium “BMW M Edition.”
The device’s build quality matches the Pixel’s excellence, featuring Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on both front and back, coupled with an Armor aluminum frame for enhanced durability against drops and scratches. In this clash of design philosophies, users must decide between the Pixel 8 Pro’s sleek elegance and the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s refined practicality with a touch of flair.
3. Pixel 8 Pro VS Galaxy S23 Ultra: Display
Display section shows the true colors of both the android masters, the Google Pixel 8 and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra showcase impressive features, each with its own strengths.
Google steps up its game with a 6.7-inch LTPO OLED display named “Actua,” boasting a resolution of 1344×2992—an upgrade from the Pixel 7. The panel achieves a remarkable brightness of around 2400 nits, ensuring excellent visibility even in broad daylight.
While the display is slightly curved, the 87.4% screen-to-body ratio falls a bit short of Samsung’s offering. The optical fingerprint sensor, though not as swift as Samsung’s, is present, and the display is safeguarded by Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra features a captivating 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x display with an impressive 89.9% screen-to-body ratio. Boasting a resolution of 1440×3088, the display offers around 500 ppi, outclassing the Pixel 8 Pro in this aspect.
With a peak brightness of 1750 nits, it may fall behind the Pixel’s massive 2400 nits, but it still provides a vibrant and stunning visual experience. A notable inclusion is the “Ultrasonic Fingerprint sensor” on the display, ensuring swift and secure authentication.
Long story short, both devices deliver exceptional visuals, with Google focusing on brightness and Samsung offering a slightly superior resolution and a super fast fingerprint sensor.
4. Pixel 8 Pro VS Galaxy S23 Ultra: Camera
Moving on to the camera offerings on the Google Pixel 8 and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra showcase distinctive qualities, each catering to different preferences and priorities in photography.
Moving on to the camera systems of the Google Pixel 8 and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra present distinct approaches to photography. Google’s Pixel 8 features a triple-camera setup with a sharp 50MP wide-angle lens, 48MP telepho with 5x optical zoom, and a 48MP ultrawide lens. While excelling in 4K video with 10-bit HDR, it falls slightly behind the S23 Ultra.
There are new A.I features with the Pixel 8 Pro, like photo blur, background noise removal from video, best take, which lets you have better photo editing and video editing to make more content.
In contrast, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra boasts a formidable quad-camera system, including a remarkable 200MP wide-angle lens and a unique 10MP periscope telephoto camera with at least 10x optical zoom. The S23 Ultra’s 8K recording capability and a 12MP front camera provide additional advantages.
While the Pixel 8 Pro offers AI features absent in the Samsung device, the Galaxy S23 Ultra stands out for superior zoom capabilities and an extensive camera setup, providing users with diverse choices based on their photography priorities.
5. Pixel 8 Pro VS Galaxy S23 Ultra: Performance
As for performance section between the Google Pixel 8 and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra unfolds with distinct characteristics.
Google’s Pixel 8, powered by its in-house Tensor G3 chipset, features a respectable 3.00 processing power. While handling routine tasks competently, the device encounters challenges in heavier performance demands, exhibiting occasional lags, particularly in high-frame-rate games with the new GPU Immortal-G715s MC10. The utilization of 2-year-old UFS 3.1 storage further complicates the competition for Google, especially in comparison to more recent technologies.
Conversely, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra employs the cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, offering up to 3.36GHz processing power—an impressive 12% improvement over the Pixel 8. Enhanced by UFS 4.0 storage, the S23 Ultra ensures smooth app and game performance.
The Adreno 740 GPU excels in graphics processing, providing a seamless experience even in high-frame-rate games like Fortnite. Samsung’s device emerges as a performance powerhouse, showcasing advancements in both processing speed and storage technology.
6. Pixel 8 Pro VS Galaxy S23 Ultra: UI & OS
In terms of OS experience, the Google Pixel 8 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra adds a nice touch to their rivalry. There are few slight changes in the UI, you get new larger fonts, hearing aid support, restrict your photos or videos, Built-in VPN which is a useful one.
The Pixel 8 Pro prides itself on a pure Android experience, devoid of bloatware, running on the latest Android 14. As for the software updates, you get around 7 years of promised software updates from Google. There is an in-built security chip as well, which is the Titan M2TM security coprocessor, securing the device during potential malicious attempts, especially during bootloader access.
In contrast, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra operates on Android 13 with the One UI 6.0 skin, focusing on refining the visual interface. Noteworthy features include improved album art display, quick panel access, and notification layout.
Samsung DeX adds productivity by transforming the S23 Ultra into a desktop or laptop experience. The promise of a minimum of 4 years of software updates and the robust security of Samsung Knox ensure longevity and protection against potential threats.
7. Pixel 8 Pro VS Galaxy S23 Ultra: Battery
Battery life is average on both the devices, although there is a major difference in charging speed.
As for the Pixel 8 Pro, you get a 5050mAh battery which gives you around 1.5 days of usage in typical use, like not gaming or watching movies or anything. Although if you stream movies, or play FHD games like PUBG MOBILE, then you can expect slightly lower performance in the battery life.
For charging the Pixel 8 Pro, you get 30W wired which is good enough to charge half of like 50% in just 30 minutes. There is also 23W wireless now that is quite fast. You also get reverse wireless charging.
As for the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, you get a 5000mAh battery, which comes around a similar 1.7 days capability. Now it is due to, of course, better processing power of the Galaxy.
There is also faster charging, which is 45W for wired connection, which is around 50% better compared to Google’s. Now this gives you less time and more power in a short period of usage. You can charge 65% in just 30 minutes which is around 15% more battery. You also get 15W wireless and 4.5W reverse wireless.
So ultimately if you prefer better charging speed and a good power efficiency then Galaxy S23 is winning this round against Google Pixel 8 pro.
8. Overall Specs
Here is a more specified overview of the Google Pixel 8 Pro specifications against the Pixel 8 Pro specs-
| Specs | Google Pixel 8 Pro | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Display | Super Actua display 6.7’’ LTPO OLED, 1344 x 2992, 489ppi, Dynamic Refresh Rate 1Hz-120Hz, HDR10+, AOD | 6.8” Edge QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X, Infinity-O Display (3088 x 1440), 500 ppi, HDR10+ certified, Up to 120Hz refresh rate, 1750 nits (peak), AOD |
| Dimension (Size + Weight) | 6.4 height x 3.0 width x 0.3 depth (in), 162.6 height x 76.5 width x 8.8 depth (mm)
213 g |
163.4 (height) x 78.1 (width) x 8.9 mm (depth) 234g |
| Protection | Glass Front (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), Glass Back *Gorilla Glass Victus), Aluminum Framing IP68 Dust/Water Resistant (Up To 1.5m For 30 Min) |
Armor aluminum frame with tougher drop and scratch resistance (advertised by Samsung)
Stylus (Bluetooth integration, accelerometer, gyro) |
| Camera | Main: 50 MP, f/1.7, (wide), multi-directional PDAF, Laser AF, OIS 48 MP, f/2.8, f/2.8, 113mm (telephoto), dual pixel PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom, Super Res Zoom up to 30x 48 MP, f/1.95 (Ultrawide), 126˚ field of view, Lens CorrectionFeatures: Dual LED Flash, panorama, Ultra HDR, Pixel Shift, Best Take, Magic Eraser16, Photo UnblurVideo: 4K@24,30~, 1080@30/60fps, Gyro-EIS, OISm 10-bit HDR Front: 10.5MP, f/2.2 (WIDE), Autofocus, 95° ultrawide field of view Feature: Panorama, Auto-HDRVideo: 4K@30/60fps Audio: Audio Magic Eraser, Stereo recording, Speech enhancement, Wind noise reduction, Audio zoom |
Rear: 200 MP, f/1.7, 24mm (wide), multi-directional PDAF, Laser AF, OIS
10 MP, f/4.9, 230mm (periscope telephoto), Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS, 10x optical zoom 10 MP, f/2.4, 70mm (telephoto), Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120˚ (ultrawide), Dual Pixel PDAF, Super Steady video Feature: Expert Raw, Pro Video, Food Mode, Super Slow-Mo, Hyperlapse Features: Dual video call, Auto-HDR, HDR10+ Video: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30fps |
| Platform | OS: Android 14
CPU: Google Tensor G3 (4nm) Nine-core (1 x 3.0 GHz Cortex-X3 & 4 x 2.45 GHz Cortex-A715 & 4×2.15 GHz Cortex-A510) GPU: Immortalis-G715s MC10 |
OS: Android 13, One UI 5.1 CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Octa-Core (1×3.36 GHz Cortex-X3 & 2×2.8 GHz Cortex-A715 & 2×2.8 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3×2.0 GHz Cortex-A510)GPU- Adreno 740 |
| RAM+ROM | 128GB 12GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 1TB 12GB RAM UFS 3.1*No Micro-SD Card Slot* |
256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 1TB 12GB RAM
UFS- 4.0 |
| Ram Type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Battery | 5050, 30W Wired, 23W wireless, Reverse Wireless | 5,000mAh, 45W wired Super Fast Charging for wired charging
*WPC certified Wireless charging Wireless PowerShare |
| Audio & Video | Dual Stereo Speaker, Spatial Audio, Noise suppression, 3 Microphones | Stereo Speakers Tuned by AKG |
| Sensors & Features | Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, thermometer (skin temperature) | Fingerprint (under display, ultrasonic), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer
Samsung DeX, Samsung Wireless DeX |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/6e/7, 5G, LTE, Bluetooth 5.3 | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/6e/7, 5G, LTE, Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Colors | Obsidian, Porcelain, Bay (Blue) | Phantom Black, Green, Graphite, Cream, Lime, Sky Blue, Red |
9. Verdict
In the last few words the Pixel 8 Pro and Galaxy S23 Ultra leave users in a perplexing dilemma.
For early pixel users who preferred stock android’s experience, the Pixel 8 Pro emerged victorious. With its stock Android appeal and newly implemented A.I features for object removal in videos, and background noise removing capability for crisp sound clarity. It caters to those prioritizing a seamless Google experience and second-best flagship performance.
In the meantime, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra caters to seasoned Samsung fans, offering the familiarity of ONE UI, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for unparalleled performance. Its expertise lies in superior zooming capabilities, a sophisticated periscope camera, faster storage, and rapid charging – a tempting proposition for those valuing Samsung’s legacy.
In this heated debate, the conclusion pivots on individual preferences, if you consider yourself as the stock android experience seeker, then the Pixel 8 Pro is ideal in a good performance and if you only prefer greater performance compared to Pixels and multiple cameras on a android phone then the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is worth considering.
Get the Google Pixel 8 Pro, if:
> You need the best android running smartphone right now;
> You want a great AI photography powered phone ;
> You require a good battery life along with better charging.
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Get the Galaxy S23 Ultra, if:
> You prefer greater performance on an android phone;
> You require multiple cameras from a Samsung device;
> You need faster charging speed to power your phone during emergencies.
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Mohammad Shariful Islam is the CEO and MD of Apple Gadgets, a leading e-commerce and retail chain for gadgets in Bangladesh. He has a passion for technology, entrepreneurship, and holds a decade of experience in gadget E-Commerce. He’s committed to providing the best possible shopping experience for customers by delivering the latest and trendy gadgets.
