Google Pixel 9 vs Pixel 8
You are looking for a compact flagship and you land on Google's offers. At around â¬900, the Google Pixel 9 is quite pricy and you can easily notice that the Google Pixel 8 will get you a lot of its features at a way more reasonable price of â¬500.
The new Pixel 9 brings an improved design, performance and camera quality, but its focus is mostly on AI features. The old Pixel 8 still offers top-notch hardware, imaging skills and clean software, especially at the all-time low price, so it is not hard to pick it over the new model.
How much better is the Google Pixel 9 to deserve its price premium then? Let's look into it.
Table of Contents:
For starters, you can compare the complete specs sheets or directly continue with our editor's assessment in the following video or in the text below.
Size comparison
The new Google Pixel 9 looks a lot different from the Pixel 8. It is also slightly larger, due to the bigger display.
The Pixel 9 introduces an all-flat design, camera bar included - a departure from the nicely curved Pixel 8. There are two Gorilla Glass Victus 2 panels and a flat aluminum frame. The Pixel 9 is IP68-rated for dust and water resistance.
This means the new model has better, arguably tougher glass panels and a more comfortable design. But the size increase and the flat design won't be everyone's cup of tea, especially when it comes to a compact smartphone.
Design and size are always a personal preference, so it is up to you to decide which Pixel suits you better. No matter which one you choose, though, it will be one of a premium build for sure.
Display comparison
The Pixel 9 features a 6.3-inch OLED display with a FullHD resolution and a 120Hz maximum refresh rate, as well as 2,700nits of peak brightness (advertised). The Pixel 8 has a 6.2-inch OLED panel of similar resolution and refresh rate but with lower advertised peak brightness â 2,000 nits. Both screens are HDR10 video certified.
In our testing, the Pixel 9 offered over 1,200nits of maximum brightness when adjusting it manually, and over 2,200 nits when using the Adaptive Brightness option. The Pixel 8 numbers were slightly lower â 1,000 nits in manual and 1,440 nits in Auto mode.
Obviously, the Pixel 9 has a brighter display, but we never had any issues with the one on the Pixel 8 either, so even if the newer one is better, most people, if not all, will be perfectly satisfied with the older model, too.
Battery life
The Pixel 9 is equipped with a 4,700mAh battery - a modest upgrade over the Pixel 8 (4,575mAh) and 8a (4,492mAh). The Galaxy S24, meanwhile, stands at 4,000mAh, while the iPhone 15's battery is only rated for 3,349mAh.
In our testing, the Pixel 9 proved a worthy upgrade over the Pixel 8 in the endurance department, getting meaningfully better results in all four tests and nearly two hours more in the overall Active Use Score. In doing that, it's become one of the better options when it comes to battery life in this compact class.