Battle of the Flagship Smartphones

Ah, I like a great face-off, and we’ve acquired a doozy for you this time. In a single nook, you’ve acquired the iPhone 15 Pro Max. A confirmed prizefighter, the 15 Professional Max sits atop many a finest smartphone checklist whereas we await the arrival of its successor, the iPhone 16. Armed with Apple’s A17 Professional chip, the telephone is agile and highly effective sufficient to run console-quality graphics, which is not any small feat.

The Titanium chassis turns what would normally be a heavy brick into a light-weight surprise. Plus, you get all-day battery life and the cameras, which at this level have been touted as a few of the finest in the marketplace. And we will’t overlook that this marks the primary time the iPhone ditched Lightning in favor of USB-C charging.

The most important complaints the telephone has obtained are concerning the worth. However we’re firmly rooted within the period of over-$1,000 telephones, and there’s no signal of stopping. The Motion Button is polarizing as many have reported not utilizing the nascent button a lot. Lastly, the display screen, the place Apple crowed concerning the new Ceramic Defend, undoubtedly reveals put on and tear after months of use.

After which you could have the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. Though it’s the underdog on this struggle, you’d be silly to depend it out –– particularly since Google is leaning closely into its AI bag to stage the taking part in discipline. Google Gemini is a marvel, notably on the picture entrance, the place it effortlessly performs Photoshop-esque edits in mere seconds. And Google’s Pixel line has turn into famend for its wonderful digicam.

Nevertheless, the extra Google embraces synthetic intelligence, the extra it asks customers to belief it with delicate info, which is a giant ask.

Past AI and pictures, the Pixel 9 Professional XL is receiving overwhelming reward for its new design, which has the appear and feel of a flagship smartphone. The show can be greater and extra vivid than its predecessor. And also you get a whopping seven years of OS upgrades. The telephone additionally helps quick charging by means of a 45W charger, which it doesn’t embody. It seems like a rip-off that Google can’t spare a charger after you’ve plopped down over $1,000 for his or her smartphone.

Like its Apple counterpart, the most important criticism is pricing. Then, there’s the ever-present specter of nefarious AI and the necessity to pay for the pleasure down the road.

So there you could have it. That is shaping into an thrilling match, however who will emerge on prime on this battle of premium smartphones?

Google Pixel 9 Professional XL Vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: Worth

What do you get with every dear telephone?

Let’s simply rip the band-aid off right here. I really feel your ache as somebody who’s bought their justifiable share of $1,000+ smartphones. The bottom mannequin of the iPhone prices $1,199 sans any trade-ins or provider specials. That will get you 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage. The 512GB mannequin prices $1,399, whereas the 1TB model will set you again $1,599.

Onto the Google facet of issues. The Pixel 9 XL Professional’s base mannequin is available in at $1,099. Nevertheless, that mannequin solely offers you 128GB of onboard storage. Nevertheless, each Pixel mannequin comes with a wild 16GB of RAM. The 256GB mannequin shortly involves parity at $1,199, whereas the 512GB unit is barely cheaper than its iPhone counterpart at $1,319. Lastly, the 1TB mannequin of the Pixel 9 Professional XL prices $1,549, which is $50 extra inexpensive than the iPhone 15 Professional Max.

Total, dollar-to-dollar, the Pixel 9 Professional XL is the higher choice. Not solely does it provide you with 4 mannequin choices, apart from the 512GB mannequin, the Pixel is cheaper than the iPhone.

Google Pixel 9 Professional XL Vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: Design

Will the true iPhone please get up?

Sure, as many reviewers famous, together with our personal Florence Ion, the Pixel 9 Pro XL appears to be like just like the iPhone 15 Professional Max. If imitation is certainly the sincerest type of flattery, Google likes Apple rather a lot. You might simply mistake one for the opposite, from the rounded corners on the shiny metallic siding to the matte glass end on the rear panels with the shiny brand within the heart. I imply, even the matte traces alongside the edges are comparable.

There are some clear variations, nevertheless. Particularly, the Pixel lacks an Motion button on the facet that holds the facility and quantity buttons, which, in line with some reviewers, is one thing they, too, can do with out. There are additionally the rear modules that home the telephone’s respective digicam sensors. The iPhone’s module is a rounded sq. within the higher left nook of the rear panel. In the meantime, the Pixel’s sensor is ovular and runs throughout the vast majority of the highest of the rear panel.

When you have a look at the Pixel’s backside, you’ll see a USB-C port, a nano-SIM slot, and a speaker, which, at a look, appears to be like frustratingly like a microSD slot. I felt sheer disappointment on the realization. Except for its USB-C port on the backside, the Professional Max has a pair of audio system on the backside with nothing on the highest.

On the subject of colour schemes, Google is the clear winner right here. The corporate isn’t afraid to play with colour, providing hues of Porcelain, Rose Quartz, Hazel, and Obsidian. Apple has taken a extra enterprise informal method with Black Titanium, White Titanium, Blue Titanium, and Pure Titanium. Geez, Apple, we get it. You integrated titanium into the design; you don’t should beat us over the pinnacle with it.

Or not. As a result of titanium is a giant deal, it permits Apple to shave some weight off the Professional whereas including sturdiness. At 7.81 ounces, the 6.3 x 3 x 0.32-inch slab feels virtually insubstantial in comparison with its 8.47-ounce predecessor. However not so quick! To not be outdone, the Professional XL is a scooch lighter at 7.8 ounces and thinner (6.4 x 3 x 0.3 inches).

Magnificence, and design, by proxy, is within the eye of the beholder. And it may be controversial, however I’m going to offer this spherical to Google. It’s thinner and lighter, and hey, I like pink.

Google Pixel 9 Professional XL Vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: Efficiency

A slobberknocker if I’ve ever seen one

The iPhone 15 Professional Max is probably the most highly effective smartphone in the marketplace till the iPhone 16 Professional Max launches in a number of weeks. Then, all bets are off. However for now, the iPhone 15 is dusting all challengers due to that A17 Professional chip, which is an absolute beast. Truthfully, it makes me yearn for the times of lap docks the place you may plug a telephone right into a laptop computer shell and have a functioning laptop computer, utilizing the telephone because the trackpad. However I digress.

It’s laborious to place a dent within the iPhone’s efficiency, and I couldn’t institute any actual chugging regardless of opening an inordinate variety of apps and net browser tabs. I even began taking part in by means of Resident Evil 4 Remake, which, if you happen to instructed me I’d be typing that sentence even a yr in the past, I’d counter with a suggestion for a gently used bridge on the market in Brooklyn. However exterior of some dropped frames, right here and there ran with none points, and the telephone didn’t flip right into a blazing slab of metallic.

The Pixel 9 Professional XL and its Google Tensor G4 processor carried out simply as with the a number of apps and net browsers. I even did gentle picture enhancing in Adobe Photoshop Specific and Google Photographs with no sick results. Sadly, Resident Evil 4 Remake isn’t on Android, so I resorted to getting my thrills with Alien Isolation. And regardless of being brutally murdered by the Xenomorph a number of occasions, the sport performed fairly easily and didn’t get uncomfortably sizzling.

We ran Geekbench 6 on each units and as anticipated, the iPhone 15 Professional Max blew it out of the body with scores of two,975 and seven,438 on the only and multithread checks, in comparison with the Pixel 9 Professional XL’s scores of 1,932 and 4,631. However needless to say the iPhone has crushed each smartphone debuted this yr by a big margin. Nonetheless, relating to efficiency, the iPhone 15 Professional Max is king.

Google Pixel 9 Professional XL Vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: AI

Cool options, however at what price?

Whereas Microsoft, Samsung, and different OEMs have been beating us concerning the head with their fancy AI buzzwords, Google is definitely giving us one thing completely different than chatbots, noise canceling, and background blurring. The secret right here is generative AI. Reimagine is among the breakout stars in Google’s photo-editing arsenal. A characteristic in Google’s retooled Magic Editor, Reimagine makes use of AI to switch your image as you see match. Simply kind what you need and let Reimagine do its factor. It took a photograph of my boyfriend’s cute daughter in entrance of our entrance gate and changed it with a photorealistic ocean setting. It was wild to see in actual time.

Then you definately’ve acquired options like Add Me that actually helps you to add your self to a bunch shot after the preliminary picture’s been taken. Zoom Improve is that characteristic you all the time see in crime reveals in your smartphone. As an alternative of dropping picture high quality if you zoom in, the magic of generative AI will fill within the lacking pixels for sharp pictures. Better of all, the characteristic can be utilized earlier than or after taking the shot. Google additionally has some AI sauce for video, bringing the flexibility to upscale to 8K and lowering or enhancing audio as you see match.

And that’s earlier than we get to Gemini correct, or ought to I say, Gemini Superior. You’ll get your traditional AI abstract instruments and “Her”-inspired digital help, full with a soothing voice. Gemini may set up and summarize your screenshots with Pixel Screenshots. Talking of group, Google Preserve can now make lists for you. The Name Notes characteristic permits Gemini to document your name, summarize, and create a dialog transcript. Simply make sure to inform the opposite social gathering on the decision. Significantly. Recording somebody with out their information is illegitimate in plenty of locations. Don’t get caught on the market. This brings us to a serious level of rivalry for lots of potential Gemini customers. Do you belief Google to document your calls and reside conversations with Gemini?

When you ponder that, let’s transfer on to Apple Intelligence. At present, in Preview, there’s not a lot I can say about it exterior of the options revealed on Apple Newsroom. Like Gemini, you’ll be getting a heaping serving to of generative AI that will probably be there to put in writing and summarize textual content, create AI-generated pictures by way of Picture Playground, and even create Genmojis – generative AI emojis. Get it? Genmojis!

Shifting on, Siri can even turn into extra conversationalist and can have the ability to chat realistically. You’ll additionally see your notifications summarized into simply scannable bites. Emails will probably be floated to the highest of your inbox by precedence, whereas longer ones will undergo the abstract machine. The brand new Focus mode will do one thing comparable, prioritizing vital notifications and saving the remaining for later. Like Gemini, Apple Intelligence can document calls, create transcripts, and summarize the whole lot.

Tough sketches will be reworked into one thing extra professional-looking with Picture Wand. You’ll be able to create customized reminiscence motion pictures out of your stills and movies. Apple Intelligence will even discover acceptable music. And talking of images, Apple Intelligence will enable you kind by means of your ever-growing assortment of pictures by merely typing what you’re on the lookout for. I can’t wait to see how obscure or exact you have to be with that one. And eventually, you’ll have the ability to take away undesirable picture parts much like Magic Erase with the brand new Clear Up characteristic.

Apple, like Google, needs you to belief them together with your calls, notes, and searches, stressing a rigorous privateness coverage. Once more, we’ll have to attend and see as soon as this goes reside.

Each AI options are at present free. And whereas Apple has but to announce plans to cost customers, Google needs people to pay $20/month for the privilege.

For now, Google takes this spherical. However keep tuned for when Apple Intelligence absolutely launches.

Google Pixel 9 Professional XL Vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: Digicam

The very best shooters within the recreation duke it out

Now, this can be a battle for the ages. What Google lacks in blistering CPU efficiency, it’s traditionally made up for in its picture capabilities, notably in low-light settings. And that is earlier than all of the AI razzmatazz. However Apple has no slouch on this division both, convincing some that they might not must spend money on an costly DSLR.

Apple comes out field swinging, equipping the Professional Max with a 48-megapixel principal sensor with a ƒ/1.78 aperture. Each the ultrawide and telephoto have 12-MP sensors. The previous has a ƒ/2.2 aperture whereas the latter has a ƒ/2.8. As for the telephoto, you’ve acquired a 5x digital zoom and a 25x digital zoom.

The Professional XL barely improved the digicam, beginning with the 50-MP vast sensor, which has been enlarged ever so barely to seize extra gentle. The first digicam lens has an f/1.68, which is useful for evening mode and depth results. The ultrawide digicam sensor acquired the most important bump, leaping as much as a full 48-MP sensor in comparison with its predecessor’s 12-MP. The telephoto digicam is untouched at 48-MP, with final yr’s 5x optical zoom and 30x Tremendous Res Zoom.

Editor’s Notice: When you’re having bother studying the captions. Within the side-by-side comparisons, the Pixel 9 Professional is first then the iPhone 15 Professional Max.

Broad

I took each telephones with me to stroll my canines and took some photographs across the neighborhood. Wanting on the outcomes, it instantly turned clear that the iPhone is juicing its images as the colours produced in my take a look at photographs have been far more vibrant than the precise topic. For example, in a shot of a brownstone with a facade coated in vines, the precise constructing regarded extra brown, whereas the vines regarded lifeless. Nevertheless, within the Pixel picture, the vines regarded alive and properly. I by accident hit a filter, however this was the ultimate end result after retaking it a number of occasions on the iPhone.

I had higher outcomes when on a flower shot. Whereas the iPhone’s picture had deeper colour (which I choose), the Pixel was as soon as once more the extra correct of the 2. Wanting on the leaves in each photographs, the iPhone gave a greater have a look at the fragile veins operating by means of the leaves and stems. I additionally had a transparent view of the flower’s stamen on the Professional Max.

In a shot of some notably fluffy clouds taken at 0.5 magnification, the Pixel Professional gave me a wider shot than the iPhone. The Professional Max’s picture had a blue tint that accentuates the element within the clouds and simply makes for a extra melancholy shot. Nevertheless, it additionally washes out the colour of the constructing within the shot whereas the Pixel shows its true colour. The pink graffiti operating down the facet additionally pops extra on the Professional XL. And zooming in on the development within the background, the Pixel had sharper element.

Ultrawide

The Pixel continued its wins on the colour accuracy and sharpness fronts. Whereas the iPhone continued serving up scrumptious colour. A view of the Manhattan skyline at 7.5x yielded a stunning shot on each telephones. Nevertheless, you may see the raindrops dripping from the metallic railings on the constructing subsequent door clear as day on the Pixel, whereas you must zoom in to see it on the iPhone. The Professional XL additionally confirmed off extra home windows. The constructing on the far left regarded very muddy on the iPhone.

When it comes to scope, the iPhone gained this second shootout because it merely captured extra topic space than the Pixel. The darker shadows make the signal stand out greater than on the Professional XL. Nevertheless, as a lot as I like the iPhone’s vividness, it appears to be like like I took the images at completely different occasions of the day, which is way from the case. Whereas the iPhone produced the extra creative picture, it’s nowhere close to as correct.

Low gentle

For the low gentle take a look at, I organized a row of tchotchkes on my leisure heart on the second ground of my house as my take a look at topics. I dimmed the lights as little as they’d go within the first shot and took a number of photographs. The Professional XL got here by means of with superior colour and minutia. You learn the lettering on the pink tin. And taking a look at my Michonne Funko Pop, Hulk, and Sully collectible figurines, they’d higher colour on the Pixel. There have been extra shadows within the iPhone take a look at picture, which led to muted colours and obfuscated options within the determine. For example, you may barely see Hulk’s enamel.

I turned the lights off in the course of the subsequent take a look at, leaving the tv on and a close-by gaming desktop with some mild RGB lighting pulsating. Wanting on the Professional Mox picture, you may clearly see the golden dragon on the backside of the leisure console. Nevertheless, the Michonne Funko is nearly fully submerged in shadow. You’ll be able to barely see any element on the sport decoration subsequent to Hulk. Whereas the Pixel provided richer colour, as evidenced by Sully’s vibrant blue conceal, Hulk’s type was virtually fully hidden within the shadow.

Selfie

And now for some true parity. The iPhone’s 12MP entrance sensor with its f/1.9-aperture lens gave nearly as good because it acquired in opposition to the Pixel’s 42MP entrance shooter and its f/2.2-aperture lens. In a shot taken on the canine park, each telephones captured the precise yellow of my gown, the pink of my boyfriend’s shirt, and the cavalcade of colour in my locs. Taking a more in-depth have a look at each pictures, I needed to give it to the Pixel because it’s simpler to see the person grays in my boyfriend’s beard.

One factor the iPhone goes to do is provide you with some good bokeh. On this rooftop selfie, the buildings within the background are virtually completely blurred, permitting you to deal with the oldsters within the shot. My hoodie appears to be like extra orange within the Professional Max picture, and our pores and skin tones look darker. That’s high quality, however that bokeh is a bit aggressive, blurring a few of my locs out. Nevertheless, the telephone additionally confirmed my boyfriend’s beard finest.

Panorama

This goes to the Pixel just because the telephone can seize a 360-degree panoramic picture. I actually like how the digicam offers you information factors to satisfy as you slowly flip to seize the picture. The end result was a full shot of the realm round my rooftop. That’s to not say the iPhone takes shabby pictures; it doesn’t. The rules aren’t as correct on the iPhone; you may solely seize 180 levels.

Digital Zoom

That is merely no contest. Though the iPhone’s 25x digital zoom is nice in most circumstances, it’s no match for the Pixel’s 30 Tremendous Res Zoom or digital zoom. In my first set of photographs, I captured the highest of a Manhattan skyscraper miles away from my rooftop. The iPhone did an admirable job for the space, however it’s considerably blurry. And when you can see some home windows, even the lighted ones appear to be shapeless blobs. The Pixel’s picture is smoother and has extra element, permitting you to see probably the most home windows out of each photographs, lighted or not.

I wished one thing extra colourful for my second shot, so I regarded down into my yard and centered on the large pile of canine toys on the desk. As soon as once more, the iPhone’s digital zoom produces a picture with significantly fuzzy element. The desk’s cross-hatching is barely seen, and you may’t see the ridges on the stuffed pumpkin or the person fur on the duck. It’s the other of the Pixel, with crispy particulars and extra exact colour.

Total, I’m giving this spherical to the Pixel; whether or not it’s low-light, panoramic, vast, or ultrawide photographs or perhaps a selfie, the Pixel 9 Professional XL persistently delivers color-accurate photographs with clear, clear traces.

Google Pixel 9 Professional XL Vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: Battery

A severe marathon

Nothing is worse than a smartphone whose battery dies in the midst of the day. You gained’t have that downside with the Professional XL or the Professional Max. With its 4,441mAh battery, the iPhone 15 lasted 25 hours on our battery take a look at (taking part in by means of a 24-hour YouTube video with the brightness set to 200 nits. The Pixel’s 5,060mAh battery tapped out 22:58, which isn’t dangerous, however I anticipated extra with the bigger battery.

Each smartphones have quick charging capabilities. The Pixel will be charged 70% in half-hour, and the iPhone 15 will be charged 50% in half-hour. Each units help wi-fi charging.

With an extended two-hour runtime, this spherical goes to the iPhone 15 Professional Max.

Google Pixel 9 Professional XL Vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: Verdict

We’ve gone by means of six grueling rounds with the Google Pixel 9 Professional XL and iPhone 15 Professional Max. Every smartphone has displayed its strengths and weaknesses to nice impact, and when the smoke is cleared, it may go both method. Concerning efficiency and endurance, nobody does it higher than the iPhone. Truthfully, at this level, the one factor that may beat an iPhone is one other iPhone (I’m taking a look at you, 16 Professional Max). However these are just a few issues that make a flagship telephone nice.

So, let’s speak concerning the Pixel 9 Professional XL. It copied Apple’s homework on the design piece. Nevertheless, it managed to do it a bit higher with a barely thinner, lighter body. And a pop of pastel by no means damage anybody. Till we see what Apple Intelligence affords, Google would be the king of cell AI. Hell, it’s the AI to beat relating to consumer-grade synthetic intelligence.

Lastly, there’s the digicam. Google continues to create a few of the finest smartphone cameras within the enterprise, and paired with its AI options, will probably be laborious to knock the Pixel off its pedestal. For these causes, the Google Pixel 9 Professional XL is the undisputed winner of this face-off.