Whats going on guys, my name is Wade with
TechDaily and in this video we’re going to be comparing the new Pixel 8 Pro to the
also still somewhat new iPhone 15 Pro. Now these 2 Pro smartphones are basically
the top-tier flagship devices from Google & Apple, and I know there’s always a sort
of stigma when comparing an Android device to an iPhone, but if we were to take Google’s
word for it, they feel as though the Pixel is what iPhone users should be switching to. And I do feel like a lot of people will be
deciding between these two this year especially if you value things like camera specs, lots
of software updates or overall performance. Now at a glance, these two phones couldn’t
be more different. Obviously the Pixel 8 Pro is quite a big bigger
than the iPhone for starters, it’s a 6.7 inch device, the iPhone comes in at 6.1 inches. And I know a lot of people will be saying
I should’ve compared the Pixel to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, perhaps that’s a more fair comparison
based on size, but there isn’t a smaller or larger Pixel Pro so it’s not quite a
1-of-1 comparison, but I get the argument. In addition to its bigger screen size, the
Pixel also in my opinion has a nicer design - the iPhone has the big dynamic island notch
at the top which is functional kind of but takes up some screen real estate. They both have pretty slim bezels all around
though. On the back, both phones of course have that
super premium build. The glass cover on both is a frosted matte
finish but the metal frame differs quite a bit. The Pixel is actually a polished aluminum
while the iPhone of course is Apple’s heavily-advertised Titanium material. To me though, metal is metal is metal, titanium
vs aluminum vs stainless steel doesn’t really impact the usability of the device at all. Visually, some people might prefer that polished
jewelry look of the Pixel or the rugged industrial look of the iPhone, you may or may not hate
fingerprints but all of this is totally inconsequential to the actual features & functionality of
the phones. Same goes for their big ol’ camera bumps
around back. The Pixel has the unique camera bar, the iPhone
has a triple lens camera bulge - the camera specs differ a bit of course but the design
and placement are nothing more than creative choice. I will just say that in the hand, even though
the Pixel is significantly larger from top to bottom and side to side, it feels thinner
and lighter by comparison - even though it’s technically not. The tampered sided of the Pixel come to a
thinner edge than the iPhone, and on a weight-to-size scale, the Pixel is actually lighter than
the 15 Pro Max and not that much heavier than the 15 Pro, eve though its half an inch larger. Taking a quick look around at the rest of
the physical bits, on the left side of the iPhone you’ll see the new action button
and volume buttons. On the right side of the Pixel 8 Pro you’ll
the physical SIM card tray which actually important to mention. The iPhone at least here in the U.S. does
not have a physical SIM slot anymore, its eSIM only. The Pixel supports both eSIM and physical
SIM cards still, so for traveling or overall convenience, that’s definitely a perk of
the Pixel. On the right side, both phones have their
respective power buttons, along with volume buttons on the Pixel. There’s a couple 5G antenna’s on both
phones in various spots. On the bottom, these phones are now identical
with USB C ports on both in the middle flanked by a couple speaker & microphone cutouts. Selfie cameras & secondary speakers up top
there on both and around back like I mentioned, very different camera setups. —
To keep my new Pixel 8 Pro all shiny & safe by the way, I’ve been using these leather
cases from Bellroy, this video’s sponsor. Bellroy’s leather cases are slim & sleek
but offer all the protection you’d want. They’re also constructed from an ethically
sourced, top-grain leather, so they look great and give off a luxurious & premium vibe. The three colors I have here are SimplyTaupe,
Slate Blue and Terracotta, my personal favorite. They pop on to the phone with ease, and you
can see that all the important bits are fully covered. There’s a full, raised lip all around the
screen and extra edge around the camera bump around back. The buttons are even covered. And the inside of the case is a super soft
microfiber to keep that polished finish looking nice. Bellroy even worked closely with Google to
design this case to pair perfectly with the phone. So it’s the exact fit with precisely measured
cutouts all around, it’s slim & minimal, not bulky or intrusive, it’s pretty much
the perfect case pairing for the Pixel 8 Pro. Bellroy’s cases are constructed from a recycled
plastic at their core which helps keeps its shape and also provides some impact protection
in the event of a fall. And the outer layer is that premium, high
quality leather - evenly died for perfect color and sourced from gold-rated tanneries
certified by the Leather Working Group. This high quality material is made to last
and will eventually show that unique, aged leather look that a lot of people love. Bellroy’s leather cases really deliver it
all when it comes to style, quality & protection and I personally don’t know of any better
leather case on the market than these. Check out all of Bellroy’s products at the
link in the video description below. —— Now when it comes to biometrics & security,
the Pixel 8 Pro has an in-display fingerprint reader that can used for unlocking the device
and confirming your identity for apps & payments. The iPhone of course hasn’t had a fingerprint
sensor in years, it’s all FaceID. But this year, the Pixel 8 Pro also has a
new facial recognition system that for the first time can be used for identity confirmation. The Pixel still just uses the selfie camera,
there’s no additional sensors like the iPhone’s FaceID system, but Google says the Pixel’s
facial recognition setup achieves the high level of security required to verify apps
& payments now. Another thing that’s new to the Pixel and
also unique to this device specifically is a temperature sensor, basically a sort of
thermometer. On the back of the Pixel near the camera setup,
there’s a new sensor that in theory can measure the approximate temperate of all sorts
of objects and the air. When you point it at something and tap the
measure button in the new thermometer app, the phone will give you a reading and in my
experience, it’s really not that accurate. And it also isn’t approved to be used for
taking your own temperature or the temperature of living things, but it is an interesting
addition to this phone and not something the iPhone or really any other device offers. When it comes to the viewing experience, there
are some other screen differences here besides the size. Both phones offer LTPO OLED panels so they’re
the bright, colorful and vibrant looking displays you’d expect from flagship phones. But resolution-wise, interestingly enough,
the Pixel actually has the much sharper display - even though it’s larger. With a resolution of 2992 by 1344, the Pixel
8 Pro packs in some 489 pixels per inch with its 6.7 inch screen. The iPhone on the other hand has a slightly-better-than-1080
resolution 6.1 inch screen at 2556 by 1179, or about 461 pixels per inch. What this means is that if you want to look
really, really closely at each display, the Pixel is going to look sharper. But to be honest, this is one of those specs
that’s nice to say you have but that the average person probably couldn’t pick out. Both these phones do look really nice and
you arent going to be picking out any pixels either way. They’re both 120hz variable refresh rate
displays as well, so both visually and with all your taps and swipes, the screens should
look super smooth and fluid. The other difference actually is with brightness,
and in particularly the maximum auto-brightness capabilities. The iPhone 15 Pro can reach 1000 nits of max
brightness with the user controlled toggle and up to 2000 nits with auto brightness enabled
in outdoor conditions. The Pixel 8 Pro takes things even further
with up to 1600 nits of user controls brightness and 2400 nits of peak auto-brightness. Now its sort of tough to show on camera, but
in person, the Pixel is absolutely the brighter display and this is interesting because this
year, this extra brightness is new to the Pixel, while last year Apple upped the max
brightness on the iPhone, but didn’t change it this year. So the pixel sort of lept ahead. And honestly, considering the resolution difference
and the size too, I do think the Pixel has the better viewing experience overall. Spec-for-spec its just the better display,
and if that’s something thats most important to you, I think the Pixel is the clear winner. For your out loud listening experience, both
phones offer a dual speaker setup. There’s a single speaker at the bottom,
and then a secondary speaker hidden in the earpiece. And honestly, I can’t really hear much of
a difference between the two phones myself but here’s a sound sample form each so you
can decide. As far as specs & performance, I’ll be honest,
this is always sort of a tough comparison because we’re literally comparing..Apples
to Androids, and there’s not exactly a fair or straightforward way to do that. But I’ll still give you the info and also
offer some of my thoughts. Now inside, each phone has very different
specs, but they actually are the in-house components designed by Apple & Google. The Pixel 8 Pro has Google’s new Tensor
G3 chip and and 12GB of RAM, while the iPhone 15 Pro is powered by Apple’s latest A17
Pro CPU and 8GB of RAM. On paper, the iPhone’s processor is more
powerful than any other smartphone chip, just based on the various measurable performance
scores. And what Apple also has going for it is they
control the software as well: iOS and the 3rd party apps available to the iPhone, we
know Apple has strict standards there. So the iPhone is and has always been optimized
for performance both with Apple’s own internals and with the software. But Google the last few years has taken a
similar approach with their Tensor chips and obviously Android is Google’s operating
system, so on the Pixel they have a lot more control over the software: with optimization
and the overall user experience. I’m actually of the opinion that there is
no better Android device to buy than a pixel because you get the updates first, you get
tons of Google and Android-specific features, and if there’s an Android device out there
that should run the best overall, it probably would be the Pixel. And this year, Google is also more committed
to longevity: they’re now promising 7 years of major Android updates for the Pixel 8 Pro
which is as good as or better than what Apple offers on their devices. So now you can add software support as a solid
tally in the Pixel’s column and it’s no longer something specific to Apple. Besides that stuff, obviously the whole iOS
vs Android thing is just going to come down to personal preference, but across the board,
these 2 phones are essentially the most powerful and most supports devices from their respective
manufacturers. When it comes to battery life & charging,
the first important thing to mention is that his year, the iPhone now has a USB C port,
just like basically every other Android phone on the market from like the last 6 or 7 years. So the charging post & cables you use to plug
these phones in are the exact same. Feels kind of weird saying that. The batter sizes are very different. Naturally the bigger Pixel 8 Pro has the bigger
battery inside, a little more than 5000mah compared to the 3200 mah battery in the iPhone. Though that big battery size is cancelled
out a bit by the bigger screen which draws more power. And probably most interesting, neither of
these phones actually charges all that quickly. The iPhone supports a maximum of 30w wired
and 15w wireless via MagSafe, the Pixel also maxes out at 30w wired and 23w wireless. Though some of the power features are different:
obviously the iPhone has all those MagSafe accessories, the Pixel has reverse wireless
charging so it can actually charge the iPhone off its back and in day to day use, this is
sort of dependent upon your actual smartphone habits but I found the Pixel can list a little
longer throughout the day and also has more options for extending the battery life -various
low power modes, more transparency in its optimization. Though to be totally honest, compared to a
lot of other android devices that have bigger battery sizes and much faster charging speeds,
neither one of these devices offers any particularly unique or interesting power features. Last but not least, I think the most-talked
about feature on both of these phones are their respective camera setups, and everything
from the hardware to the shooting modes and even the pictures themselves are quite different. Around back, the Pixel’s camera bar houses
a 50mp main lens, 48mp telephoto lens, and a 48mp ultrawide, with a 10.5mp selfie camera
up front. The iPhone has a 48mp main shooter, a 12mp
telephoto lens and a 12mp ultrawide, with a 12mp selfie camera. Inside the camera app, I want to talk about
a few specific feature & capability differences that I think are most important. First off, the Pixel 8 Pro has the better
zoom capabilities. 5x optical using the telephoto lens and up
to 30x digital. The iPhone has just 3x optical zoom and 15x
digital, and if you want better zoom on the iPhone you’ll have to instead opt for the
Pro Max. As far as some of the other shooting modes
and features, the phones actually have similar capabilities, they’re just sort of called
different things night mode vs night sight, cinematic blur vs cinematic mode. I personally feel as though the Pixel has
the more feature-packed camera with additional options like long exposure, but I’ll talk
more about those specific camera differences in a dedicated camera comparison video. As for some real world results, what’s most
interesting to me is that while the iPhone this year seems to capture duller, more true-to-life
looking images with less vibrant colors, they’re still more matured than the pixel. Though arguably, the Pixel still seems to
capture more detail in every shot. But again, I’ll have a more in-depth camera
comparison video on the channel soon that will really dive deep into the camera differences
between these two phones. I do think they’re both pretty much the
best picture-takers on the market once again this year. In my opinion, the Pixel 8 Pro is probably
the best Android device you can buy, just based on the combination of specs, software
and camera capabilities. The iPhone is..well, the iPhone, there’s
nothing to really compare it to necessarily, other than an Android phone and between these
two, the choice is definitely tough. Spec-for-spec, I think the Pixel may have
an advantage on paper, but what do you guys think? Which device would you rather have? Let me know in the comments down below, Id
love to hear your thoughts of course. Hopefully you guys did enjoy this video though
or at least found it somewhat helpful. Be sure to follow TechDaily on Twitter and
subscribe to the TechDaily YouTube channel if you haven’t already and I’ll see you
guys later.
