Google Pixel 9 Professional XL vs. Pixel 8 Professional

This yr Google added a brand new mannequin to its flagship lineup – Google Pixel 9 Professional XL, dethroning final yr’s Google Pixel 8 Professional as a top-tier Pixel within the household. Regardless of what the title suggests, the 9 Professional XL is extra of an iterative replace than a revolutionary reboot.

Moreover, the Pixel 9 Professional XL’s launch worth is significantly larger than the going worth for the 8 Professional. So, on paper, the 8 Professional looks as if the extra good choice. The satan is usually within the particulars, although, so let’s have a look at if the 9 Professional XL deserves its worth premium.

Desk of Contents:

For starters, you may evaluate the entire specs sheets or instantly proceed with our editor’s evaluation within the textual content additional under.

Dimension comparability

The Google Pixel 9 Professional XL and eight Professional have near-identical dimensions, although this yr’s 9 Professional XL has a 0.1″ greater show. Google was in a position to slim down the bezels and obtain extra display screen actual property.

The newer Pixel is barely thinner and heavier concurrently, however we doubt anybody would discover in actual life.

Construct high quality and look are nearly the identical. Gorilla Glass Victus 2 is on the back and front with an aluminum body within the center. The Pixel 9 Professional XL has adopted a barely completely different digital camera island design, however that does not have an effect on dealing with or utilization.

Show comparability

The 2 units have the identical underlying show tech – LTPO OLED with as much as 120Hz refresh fee. Adaptive refresh fee and HDR10+ help are at hand for each handsets, however the newer 9 Professional XL is the winner on this division for 2 easy causes.

Firstly, the Professional XL has the brightest show we have seen but, going above 2,300 nits, whereas the 8 Professional maxes out at 1,600 nits. That does not imply the Professional XL is about 40% brighter as a result of luminance is measured on a logarithmic scale, not linear. Nonetheless, the newer Pixel absolutely supplies a greater viewing expertise outdoor.

Secondly, you get 0.1″ of additional display screen diagonal with the 9 Professional XL and extra display screen actual property. The thinner bezels look extra fashionable on the newer Pixel too.

Battery life

Regardless that the Pixel 9 Professional XL shares the identical battery as its predecessor (5,060 mAh vs. 5,050 mAh), battery life has improved. It might be because of the newer Tensor G4 chip or different under-the-hood optimizations.

Both manner, the brand new Pixel has an Lively Use Rating of 12:32h, higher than the 11:14h Lively Use Rating from the 8 Professional. Whereas name and gaming runtimes are roughly the identical, the 9 Professional XL edges out its predecessor with higher internet shopping and video playback, and these are, arguably, the assessments that matter essentially the most.

Charging velocity

Each units use the Energy Supply 3.0 commonplace for wired charging, however the 9 Professional XL’s is rated at 37W, up from the 30W on the 8 Professional. And in line with our assessments, the good points are noticeable.

The 9 Professional XL should not be report setter but it surely’s noticeably quicker than the 8 Professional on the 15-minute and 30-minute marks, delivering greater than 10 proportion factors distinction.

Nonetheless, the curve flattens because the 9 Professional XL will get nearer to 100%. In consequence, the complete charging on the newer Pixel is simply 5 minutes quicker.

Relating to wi-fi charging, each telephones cap at 23W and that is with the elective Pixel Stand, which supplies the quickest wi-fi charging for these telephones.

Speaker check

Technically, the 9 Professional XL provides louder audio system than the 8 Professional, however in actual life, the distinction is not all that noticeable. What’s noticeable is the sound tuning.

The 8 Professional’s audio system emphasize the vocals and mids, whereas the XL sounds hotter, with deeper and extra pronounced bass. We won’t say which one is healthier, because it all boils down to private choice, however we suspect the newer Pixel will enchantment to extra customers.

Efficiency

Pixel telephones have by no means been the high-performance kind and Google has at all times targeted extra on the software program facet of issues. That is why the Pixel 9 Professional XL’s new in-house Tensor G4 SoC is not a lot of an enchancment over final yr’s G3. That is to not say the telephone would not run nicely. Fairly the alternative – each units are snappy and responsive of their day-to-day duties.

There isn’t any vital change within the reminiscence configurations both. The newer Pixel will get 16GB of RAM throughout all storage variants, which is a step up from final yr’s 12GB configurations, however that is hardly an enchancment, which you’ll really feel or measure. The bottom storage choice stays merely 128GB, however can go as much as 1TB. Legitimate for each telephones.

Benchmark efficiency

Sadly, the benchmarks we ran on the brand new Pixel 9 Professional XL had been unreliable at figuring out the Tensor G4’s efficiency; in some instances, it exhibits inferior efficiency in comparison with the older G3. It might be a software program difficulty or an issue with our assessment unit. Both manner, we chorus from posting any outcomes in the intervening time.

Digital camera comparability

Leaping from simply Professional to Professional XL brings little to the desk by way of digital camera enhancements as one would anticipate from the value hike and naming scheme. The 2 handsets share largely the identical digital camera {hardware}.

We have got the 50MP f/1.7, 1/1.31″ fundamental shooter 48MP f/2.8, 1/2.55″ 5x periscope telephoto snapper and a 48MP ultrawide digital camera with some modifications this yr. The newer ultrawide unit will get a wider aperture (f/1.7 vs. f/2.8), however the sensor measurement decreases from 1/2.0″ to 1/2.55″. It is onerous to inform which method bears higher outcomes earlier than trying on the samples.

The selfie digital camera will get some love this yr, although. The front-facing shooter is now 42MP, up from 10.5MP and nonetheless provides autofocus and ultrawide lens.

Picture high quality

As beforehand anticipated, the digital camera high quality stays largely unchanged. The samples we took are from completely different days, which makes it more durable to check, however general high quality appears near-identical. We’re hard-pressed to search out any vital distinction in rendition, colours, and so on.

Pixel 9 Professional XL: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 5x

Pixel 8 Professional: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 5x

That is legitimate throughout all cameras and in each daylight and low-light situations. Regardless that the ultrawide shooter has modified, we could not discover any noticeable change in picture high quality there both.

Pixel 9 Professional XL: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 5x

Pixel 8 Professional: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 5x

We did discover a slight tendency for a brighter publicity, therefore brighter shadows, in some low-light scenes shot on the Pixel 9 Professional XL.

Selfies are glorious on each telephones, however we anticipated a major enchancment on the brand new mannequin.

Pixel 9 Professional XL selfies

Pixel 8 Professional selfies

Video high quality

For some motive, the Pixel 9 Professional XL’s movies are significantly worse than on the 8 Professional. They’re tender and lack high quality element, which is true for all three cameras on the again. We suspect this can be a software program difficulty, which Google will tackle with a future replace, however for now, the Pixel 8 Professional is the clear winner on this section.

In all equity, the low-light video by the Pixel 9 Professional XL’s fundamental digital camera seems to have barely higher definition on account of much less agressive noise discount.

Pixel 9 Professional XL: 0.6x • 1x • 5x • 1x low-light

Pixel 8 Professional: 0.6x • 1x • 5x • 1x low-light

Verdict

The 9 Professional XL provides upgrades which can be too modest to justify the value distinction of round €500/$500 on the time of writing.

Certain, the 9 Professional XL has a brighter and a tad bigger display screen with thinner bezels; it provides a modest enchancment in charging, battery life and speaker loudness, however that is not practically sufficient to steer a possible purchaser to shed just a few further hundred bucks. Particularly when you think about the lengthy software program help each units are entitled to and the near-identical digital camera efficiency. In truth, the 8 Professional edges out its successor on this regard with better-looking video high quality.