Which flagship is right for you?

The Galaxy S22 Ultra is Samsung’s flagship phone for the year, representing the best the company has to offer. In many ways, it marks the unification of the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines. Given Samsung’s hardware prowess, it’s no surprise that it is among the best Android phones of 2022. On the other hand, the Pixel 6 Pro, despite nearing its first anniversary, is a solid contender to the S22 Ultra. But between the two, which is the best flagship Android smartphone that you should buy? The Galaxy S22 Ultra or the Pixel 6 Pro? Read our comparison to help you decide.

Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Pixel 6 Pro: Design

Like many premium smartphones, the Galaxy S22 Ultra and Google Pixel 6 Pro feature an aluminum chassis with glass panels at the front and rear. Both phones are IP68 certified, sport stereo speakers, and miss out on the headphone jack.

Despite being a Galaxy S series phone, the S22 Ultra builds on the design of the Note20 Ultra. It has a flat top and bottom with rounded sides complemented by the 6.8-inch QHD display’s curved edges. This makes the phone a lot easier to handle despite its huge size. Samsung has managed to neatly integrate the camera bump into the phone’s body as well—a far cry from the Pixel 6 series. The dedicated S Pen slot on the bottom left makes it easy to scribble notes or doodle. The S Pen is also new, with a rubberized texture making it nicer to hold.

As for the Pixel 6 Pro, its design has a lot more character, with the dual-tone back and the massive visor-like camera strip—though this might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Do note that these are both massive devices, so if you don’t like big phones, you might want to look for other options.

Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Pixel 6 Pro: Display

Nearly every recent flagship has an incredible display, and the Pixel 6 Pro is no exception. However, Samsung has continually pushed the boundaries with display quality and raised the bar again with the Galaxy S22 Ultra. The S22 Ultra’s 6.8-inch AMOLED display can reach a peak brightness of 1750 nits—far higher than the Pixel 6 Pro’s 800 nits.

In terms of size, the display panels on the two phones are nearly the same—6.8 inches on the S22 Ultra vs. 6.7 inches on the Pixel 6 Pro. They both feature QHD+ resolution with curved edges. The S22 Ultra has a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ glass display panel, while the Pixel has regular Victus glass. They also feature in-display fingerprint scanners, though the Pixel’s scanner is slow and inaccurate, leading to a frustrating user experience. The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s ultrasonic sensor is much better in this regard.

Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Pixel 6 Pro: Chipset

The Galaxy S22 Ultra ships with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or Exynos 2200 chipset, depending on where you buy the phone. Both are fabricated on the 4nm process and are 2022’s flagship chips offering notably superior GPU and AI/ML performance compared to last-gen offerings.

The Pixel 6 Pro is powered by Google Tensor, the company’s first custom smartphone chip. It has a lot in common with Samsung’s Exynos 2200, with some added enhancements and modifications from Google to boost machine learning and AI performance. This SoC helps the Pixel 6 Pro provide some exclusive features like Magic Eraser, Face Unblur, instant voice typing with punctuation and emoji support. That said, the Tensor chipset has caused Pixel 6 owners a lot of headaches, and while Google has worked out many kinks, a few still remain.

AnTuTu Benchmark scores show the Galaxy S22 Ultra scoring slightly higher than the Pixel 6’s Tensor SoC: 912577 vs. 716898 for the Pixel. But in real-life use, both phones deliver flagship-level performance and can easily handle demanding workloads with ease. You can run as many apps and play as many high-end games as you want without running into performance hiccups. Sustained load is where the two phones start struggling. An extended gaming session of Genshin Impact or recording a lot of 4K videos in harsh sunlight will be enough for the chips to start throttling. This ends up negatively affecting their performance. Power efficiency is not their forte either. No wonder Qualcomm launched the TSMC-fabricated Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 in May this year to address the heating and efficiency issues.

Samsung has always provided plenty of RAM and storage on its devices; however, the story is slightly different this time. The Pixel 6 Pro ships with 12GB RAM as standard across the board, while the S22 Ultra base model has 8GB RAM—surprisingly, that’s even less than the S21 Ultra from last year. You can upgrade to a higher storage model to get 12GB RAM, though. The base models of the two phones ship with 128 gigs of storage, but while the Pixel tops out at 256GB, the S22 Ultra is available in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB configurations.

Another important point to note: While Samsung and Google have equipped their phones with 5G, UWB, Wi-Fi 6E, NFC, and Bluetooth 5.2, the Pixel uses an underperforming Exynos modem that tests have shown is not as good as the competition when it comes to 5G connectivity. The S22 Ultra has a major advantage here as it uses a newer 5G modem from Qualcomm, which theoretically allows it to reach higher 5G speeds. And even apart from faster speeds, it provides a better connectivity experience altogether.

Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Pixel 6 Pro: Camera

The Galaxy S22 Ultra has a higher resolution 108MP primary shooter with f/1.8 aperture and OIS. By comparison, the Pixel 6 Pro has a 50MP f/1.9 sensor with OIS. Both phones use pixel binning to output photos around 12MP in resolution. Google’s phones are known for their camera capabilities, and the Pixel 6 Pro raises the bar in that regard. Still, Samsung has made solid AI and image processing improvements with its phone this year, especially in low-light scenarios.

There’s a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera on the two phones, though the one on the S22 Ultra has a slightly wider FoV: 120° vs. 114°. The Pixel’s ultra-wide camera is not as good as its primary sensor, while Samsung’s ultra-wide shooter tends to do a decent job as long as there’s enough light. There’s a difference in their telephoto setup, with the S22 packing a more versatile setup consisting of a 10MP f/2.4 3x optical zoom camera and a 10MP f/4.9 periscope shooter with 10x zoom. With some AI magic and the 10x telephoto camera, the S22 Ultra is able to provide up to 100x Space Zoom. The Pixel 6 Pro features a 48MP f/3.5 telephoto lens offering 4x optical zoom and up to 20x Super Res Zoom.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra is notably better than the Pixel 6 Pro in the video recording department, both in terms of quality and features. Apart from 8K video recording, it has Auto Framing that can automatically keep the subject in the frame. There are plenty of other camera features and video modes to play around with, too. Samsung is also using a Super Clear Glass lens on the S22 Ultra, which it claims should help reduce nighttime flares.

As for the front cameras, the S22 Ultra’s 40MP selfie shooter has autofocus allowing it to capture sharper selfies, though the Pixel’s 11MP snapper is pretty decent, as well.

Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Pixel 6 Pro: Battery life and charging speed

The Pixel 6 Pro and Galaxy S22 Ultra pack a hefty 5,000mAh battery. Coupled with the adaptive refresh rate and LTPO displays, they should easily provide all-day battery life, even under heavy use. Both phones have enough juice to last a day with moderate use. Anything more, and you will have to charge them in the middle of the day. The Pixel 6 Pro seems to fare even worse in the battery life department, thanks to its inefficient Exynos modem. The recent Android 13 update has only worsened matters, with many Pixel 6 users reporting increased idle battery drain. Despite moderate use, this is leading them to top up the phone at least once in the afternoon or late evening.

In the charging department, Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra has a clear advantage—it can go from empty to 100% in less than an hour with a 45W charger. By comparison, Google recommends using its 30W USB-C power adapter with the Pixel 6 Pro, but it only pulls around 23W of power. While it’s good enough to charge the battery to 50% in 30 minutes, a full charge takes well over an hour. None of the phones come with a bundled power adapter, so regardless of which you go with, you’ll have to spend extra on it if you don’t already have one.

The Pixel and Galaxy both support wireless charging and reverse wireless charging. The Pixel 6 Pro only charges at 23W speed with the 2nd-gen Pixel Stand, and even then, a full charge takes ages. The S22 Ultra can be wirelessly charged at 15W on any Qi-compatible fast charger.

Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Pixel 6 Pro: Pricing and availability

The Pixel 6 Pro and Galaxy S22 Ultra each represent the very best of what Google and Samsung have to offer so far. While you can’t go wrong with either of them, it’s hard to ignore the price. The Pixel has a significant advantage: It’s available for $900 before taxes, making it substantially cheaper than the $1,200 Galaxy S22 Ultra.

But that was when these phones launched. Now, you can get both devices with a hefty discount. The Pixel 6 Pro is usually available with discounts of up to $200, so you can snag one for as low as $650. Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra is also frequently discounted to less than $1,000, but even after that, It’s hard to beat the value that the Pixel provides after the discount.

Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Pixel 6 Pro: Which one should you buy?

The above comparison makes it abundantly clear that the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the better phone. It has a better display, bundled S Pen, faster charging speeds, a more versatile camera setup, and a superior 5G modem. The company has also stepped up its game in the updates department and promises four years of OS updates and five years of security patches for the S22 series. This is even better than the Pixel 6 series, which is slated to receive three years of OS updates.

But the Pixel 6 Pro has the value tag in its favor. If you can pick one up for $600-$700, its value is unbeatable. The problem is that Google’s 2021 flagship phone is marred with issues. You get a fantastic software experience and a great camera, but that’s about it. The poor Exynos modem and battery life woes mean using the phone as a daily driver will be a struggle, especially if you are a heavy user. Worse, the phone is only available in a handful of markets, and if you don’t live in one of them, you’re out of luck.

The Pixel 7‘s launch is also around the corner. It is not expected to bring any significant upgrades, but it should be a better competitor to the Galaxy S22 Ultra. If you are not in a hurry to get a new phone, wait until the Pixel 7’s launch to decide which new phone to get.

If you’d rather not compromise on stability and have the money to spare, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the better buy. And if you do get the Samsung phone, check out everything new in its upcoming Android 13-based One UI 5 skin.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

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Google Pixel 6 Pro

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