The Pixel 9 Pro XL battery test is finally here, where it's going head-to-head against the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which, at least on paper, is pretty similar to the Pixel. Both phones have those big old batteries, with the Pixels actually being slightly bigger. Both have 6.8-inch screens with similar resolutions and refresh rates, with the key differences coming down to their software and, of course, to those chipsets.
where Google is using their own Tensor G4 chip, which they say should help the Pixel get nearly 20% better battery life than last year's Pixel, while Samsung, on the other hand, opted not to use their own Exynos chip, but instead go with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, at least on their Ultra models. Will that decision help the Galaxy outperform here, or will Google's optimizations help get it the win? Alright, so we'll kick things off in the phone test, where each device is going on the same one hour phone call.
Where at least according to the battery test indicators, the Pixel did one point better, dropping to 99 versus the Galaxy's 98. So a promising start for the Pixel given its past performance. But we'll see how it does here in messaging. Now in case you're new here, we calibrate everything we can in our lab, so the displays on the phones are set to 200 nits, the speakers are matched to the nearest decibel count, and they're both within equal distance of our mini cell tower and a Wi-Fi access point, where after 60 minutes of texting back and forth with our automated chatbots, the two perform identically, each dropping by six points, meaning the Pixel still has that one point lead as we work on email. Now, this test isn't really all that intensive.
We're just opening and scrolling through the same set of emails, and another hour in, it's the same result, with the Pixel matching the Galaxy's performance once again and maintaining that early lead. Now, for some reference, the Pixel 8 Pro from last year was at 84% already at this stage, so Google has clearly made some improvements. But this browser test is the true test, because unlike the other ones we've done so far, this one will tax that Tensor G4 chip a lot more as we load each website, where... This time the Galaxy and its Snapdragon chip do better, dropping by only six points compared to the Pixel's eight point drop. Which allows the Galaxy to not only make the comeback but take the lead for itself.
So I don't want to draw too many conclusions this early on, but the result from the browser test seems to suggest that the Tensor G4 might not be as efficient as the Snapdragon, but we'll see what it does here in Instagram. where after an hour of scrolling through the home feed like you would in real life, the Galaxy does better once again, but this time it was only by a single percentage point, meaning heading into the 16 hour standby test, the Galaxy has a two point lead. And after sitting in our lab overnight, wow, the Delta is huge. The Galaxy does twice as well as the Pixel, dropping by only five points compared to the Pixel's 10 point drop.
So the momentum has shifted. The Galaxy is starting to run away with it a little, but the Pixel might be able to recover here in YouTube since Google did say that they optimized the Tensor G4 for streaming video with less of a hit on battery life. Of course, we're not just streaming video on mute. We have these speakers on, so that's always gonna be a factor.
And one hour of binge watching later, the Pixel drops by 11 points, while the Galaxy does better only dropping by nine. So not. quite the result I think Pixel fans were looking for there. Although, if it's of any consolation, the 9 Pro did do one point better than the 8 Pro, which at this stage in the test was at 46% compared to the 9 Pro's 52%.
But I'm not so confident in the Pixel here in the gaming test, which, you know, just like the browser test, should be taxing that chipset a little bit more. Where, after an hour, yeah, the Galaxy does two points better once again, allowing it to take a double digit lead as we start working on maps. Now, part of this delta could be attributed to the Tensor G4, but I think part of it is also due to the type of storage that Google is using, which is UFS 3.1, whereas Samsung has been using UFS 4.0 since 2023, which not only has the advantage of being faster, but it's also 46% more power efficient, which may be contributing to the Galaxy's edge.
And that edge only gets bigger after simulated navigation, with Samsung's flagship adding another two points to its lead. Here in Spotify, we're just listening to music on each phone. Again, the speakers have been calibrated to the nearest decibel count, where hopefully we'll see the Pixel kind of stop the bleeding, since this task isn't really processor intensive at all, with most of the power consumption coming from the speakers and the screen. But one hour later, the Galaxy still manages to do one point better, which is kind of surprising. Usually that's an area where the Galaxy does worse, at least compared to the iPhone, But either way, The Galaxy has a 14 point lead as we start the grueling Snapchat test where everything is being taxed from the camera, mic, and screen to the storage, Wi-Fi, and speakers.
In fact, this test is two to three times more intensive than apps like Instagram and email where we'll go ahead and stop for a second here at the 53 minute mark into the test, which is the point at which the Pixel 8 Pro died last year while the Pixel 9 Pro still has 5% left to go. So clearly, Google did something to improve over last year, making the Pixel 9 Pro the first Pixel phone to ever make it to the app cycle. It only has 3%, which might not be as much as the Galaxy's 20%, but to me, any phone that can make it to the app cycle is going to last you all day.
Now, this test, like Snap, is pretty intensive, where we load the apps up, we close them all, and then we repeat that process in a loop. which for that 3% on the Pixel, only goes on for seven minutes before it calls it quits. So there you have it, a clear win for the Galaxy, with it still having 18% left to go, which is a pretty big delta, and it's enough for the Galaxy to go on in this crazy intensive test, not only for another hour, but one hour and 43 minutes.
So while I think the Pixel did pretty well in this test, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is... on another level. Anyways, that is it for me in this video.
Thank you for watching, and as always, I'll see you in the very next episode.