Google Pixel 7 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Samsung and Google make some of the best smartphones on the market, offering the most advanced features that make the most of their hardware and software integration. Both companies introduced new versions of their flagship phones this year, and our reviewers put them to the test. Now it’s time to attack the top Android smartphone: Which flagship phone — Google Pixel 7 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra — is it the best for recording the contents of your wallet?
Specifications
| Google Pixel 7 Pro | Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 162.9 x 76.6 x 8.9 mm (6.4 x 3.0 x 0.3 inches) | 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9 mm (6.43 x 3.07 x 0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 212 grams (7.5 ounces) | 228 grams/229 grams (mmWave) (8.04 ounces) |
| Screen | 6.7-inch always-on QHD+ LTPO OLED with up to 120Hz refresh rate | 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz |
| Screen resolution | Resolution 3120 x 1440 pixels (512 pixels per inch) | 3088 x 1440 pixels (500 ppi) |
| Operating system | Android 13 | Android 12 |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
| microSD card slot | no | no |
| Touch to pay for the service | Google Pay | Samsung Pay |
| Processor | Google Tensor G2 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 |
| Camera | Rear: 50 megapixel (ƒ/1.85) main, 12MP (/2.2) inltrawide, 48MP (ƒ/3.5) telephoto
Front: 10.8MP (ƒ/2.2) |
Rear: 108MP (f/2.2) main, 12MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide, 10MP (f/2.4) 10x telephoto, 10MP (f/2.4) 3x telephoto
Front: 40MP (f/2.2) |
| Video | Rear: 4K at 30/60 frames per second (fps), 1080p video recording at 30/60 fps
Front: 4K at 30/60 fps |
Rear: 4K at 30/60 fps, 1080p video recording at 30/60/120/240 fps
Front: 4K at 30/60 fps |
| Cellular | 5G mmWave on selected models, LTE, Dual SIM (Single Nano SIM and eSIM)NFC | 5G mmWave on selected models, LTE, Wi-Fi 6E, NFC |
| Bluetooth version | Bluetooth 5.2 | Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Luke | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| Water resistance | IP68 | IP68 |
| Battery | 5000mAh
30W wired charging 12W to 23W wireless charging Reverse wireless charging |
5000mAh
45W wired charging 15W wireless charging Reverse wireless charging |
| App marketplace | Google Play | Samsung Galaxy/Google Play |
| Network support | All major carriers | All major carriers |
| Colors | Obsidian, Snow, Hazel | phantom black, phantom white, green, burgundy |
| Price | $899 | $1,199 |
| available from | Samsung | |
| Overview | 3.5 out of 5 stars | 4.5 out of 5 stars |
Design, screen and durability
The Google Pixel 7 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra are flagship smartphones for their respective brands, and they differ greatly in design. The metal and glass Pixel 7 Pro features a curved display and narrow design with an attractive stainless steel camera bar on the back. The styling is distinct and distinctive, with cutouts for each camera sensor. The current Pixel design is also lighter, thinner and less curved than in the past, giving it a more balanced feel in the hand.
In contrast, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is wide and heavy, with a business-like look and feel Galaxy Note 20 UltraSharp lines and square corners. The curved display is combined with rounded top and bottom corners, and it also has individual rear cameras. This is obviously a phone that helps you get things done, but because it’s so big and slippery, it might not be completely comfortable for all hands.
There is less contrast between the two flagships in terms of display. Both have advanced 120Hz OLED-based displays, and the size difference between the Pixel’s 6.7 inches and the S22 Ultra’s 6.8 inches is negligible. The phone’s front and back panels are protected by Gorilla Glass Victus or Victus Plus on the Pixel 7 and Galaxy S22 Ultra, respectively. Both phones carry IP68 water and dust resistance ratings. Balancing design, comfort, screen quality, and brightness, we’ll determine which design is better, because they’re both beautiful.
Winner: Draw
Performance, battery life and charging
Both the Pixel 7 Pro and Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphones have a 5,000 mAh battery, with some differences in charging speed and power. Samsung has charging up to 45W, while the Pixel only reaches 30W. You’ll need to buy a Samsung or Google charger if you don’t already have one as neither comes with a charger in the box.
Our review found the Google Pixel 7 Pro’s real-world battery life to be unimpressive. While standby battery usage was respectable, using multiple apps, playing games, or anything else that runs the processor significantly reduced battery life. The Pixel 7 Pro turned out to be a one-day smartphone at best, which with its 6.7-inch screen and 5,000 mAh battery was disappointing. While the Pixel 7’s newly installed face unlock feature lets you bypass the lock screen, you’ll still need the fingerprint sensor to access locked apps or make purchases with Google Pay. We found that face unlock works pretty well, but the fingerprint sensor still needs work. Unfortunately, the Google Pixel 7 Pro also suffers from a large number of software bugs, which seriously detracts from the phone’s performance and ease of use. What’s more, the phone heats up – which means it sometimes gets uncomfortably hot after just 30 minutes of gaming.
The battery in the S22 Ultra held power for a full day of heavy use and two days of moderate use. By moderate we mean no gaming, streaming video, constant music or switching between 4G and 5G connections. The Samsung phone is better, even with the older Android 12 operating system, with Samsung OneUI 4.1 installed. Unlike the Pixel 7 Pro, we didn’t experience any bugs or issues.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Cameras
The Pixel 7 Pro has three cameras: a 50-megapixel wide, a 48-megapixel telephoto, and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide, with a 10.8-megapixel front-facing camera. The Galaxy S22 Ultra has four cameras: a 108 MP wide, two 10 MP telephotos (with different zooms) and a 12 MP ultra-wide along with a 40 MP front-facing camera. The Pixel 7 Pro can now facilitate 5x optical zoom, but it lags behind Samsung’s 10x.
But cameras aren’t just statistics—cameras are the bottom line, and the Google Pixel 7 Pro delivers. Photos from the Pixel 7 Pro are exceptional, with bold color reproduction and strong lighting. The Google phone camera captures tons of detail, and the image processing creates stunning images without much effort. The camera app offers two shortcuts to jump to 2x and 5x zoom, but you can keep zooming up to 30x, which is great for flexibility and creativity. The ultra-wide camera, with its new Macro Focus shooting mode, was the most impressive. Unfortunately, the selfie camera is nothing to write home about.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s cameras are excellent compared to the Pixel 7 Pro. The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s 108MP main, 12MP ultra-wide, 10MP 3x optical zoom, 10MP 10x optical zoom and 40MP selfie cameras offer much more flexibility and precision. Its multiple optical zoom modes make it versatile, the main and wide cameras take beautiful color photos with excellent balance, and the updated portrait mode is brilliant. Single Take mode allows you to record a short video, up to 15 seconds, which can be extended to 20 seconds, while the phone’s AI generates different images and videos from it. The basic camera app is simple and customizable. Our review says it’s one of the best camera phones out there. Between Samsung’s Pro photo and video modes and its new Expert RAW app, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra also takes great pictures.
The Pixel 7 Pro takes slightly better photos (without Samsung’s aggressive saturation boost) and has a better point-and-click experience, while the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s zoom is amazing and has the right depth for those willing to take their time. This is a tie.
Winner: Draw
Software and updates
The Pixel 7 Pro, which ships with Android 13, has Google’s new Tensor G2 chip and 12GB of RAM. The default 128GB of storage is upgradable to 256GB and 512GB. While Google’s Material You engine makes customization easy, the various AI features derived from the Tensor chip make the experience unique. For the Pixel 7 Pro, Google promises three years of operating system upgrades and five years of security upgrades.
The Pixel 7 Pro’s tensor processor includes new smart AI features like Photo Unblur and the upcoming Clear Calling and Recorder App features. The Pixel 7 Pro also revived face unlock – dormant for a year Pixel 4 — but with an undesirable setup that requires a fingerprint sensor to access locked apps or use Google Pay.
Its rival, the Galaxy S22 Ultra, has a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 with 8GB of RAM. Storage options include 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB. It comes with the older Android 12 operating system, with Samsung’s OneUI 4.1 installed and offers four years of full updates. Samsung clearly promotes its products and forces you to sign in to a Samsung account, favoring Samsung Pay, updating apps via the Galaxy Store, and ignoring non-Samsung calendar and messaging apps. This practice is not unique to Samsung, but it is not friendly either.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Special features
The most prominent special feature of the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the included S Pen — identical Galaxy Note 20 Ultra — located in its own storage slot on the bottom of the phone. The S Pen is small and thin and not particularly comfortable for large hands. While it’s useful, unless you regularly draw or take notes, it’s probably not something you’d miss without it. Whether you want or need the S-Pen or not, it’s still a solid accessory that wins Samsung’s competition for special features.
While the Pixel 7 Pro boasts many new features, they are processor, software, and update related, as mentioned above.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Price and availability
Both the Google Pixel 7 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra are on sale and universally available. There is a big price difference between the two. The Pixel starts at $899 for the base model with 128GB of storage. You can get the 256GB or 512GB model for $999 or $1,099, respectively, from the Google Store, Amazon, Best Buy, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra costs $1,199 for the 8GB/128GB version and costs $1,299 for the 12GB/256GB model, $1,399 for the 12GB/512GB model or $1,599 for the 12GB/1TB version. It’s available from Samsung and the same retailers as the Pixel 7 Pro.
Overall winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
The Google Pixel 7 Pro it may seem at first glance to be better value for money with its graceful looks, sophisticated software features, stellar camera and Android 13 interface. Yet despite its bold design and advanced features, we found that Google still struggles to build on the Pixel’s good points, while failing to improve on previous models. Overall, we found the Pixel 7 Pro to be a frustrating smartphone based on poor battery life and persistent performance that detracts from the phone’s overall performance.
In contrast, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is much more expensive, but it will be money well spent. The Samsung phone offers even more impressive camera specs, a bigger screen, faster charging and a built-in stylus. The phone is a marvel of technology that will serve you for years to come.
Editor’s recommendations
#Google #Pixel #Pro #Samsung #Galaxy #S22 #Ultra
