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 identify suggests, the 9 Professional XL is extra of an iterative replace than a revolutionary reboot.

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

Desk of Contents:

For starters, you may evaluate the whole specs sheets or straight proceed with our editor’s evaluation within the textual content additional beneath.

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 capable of 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 gadgets have the identical underlying show tech – LTPO OLED with as much as 120Hz refresh price. Adaptive refresh price 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 certainly gives a greater viewing expertise outside.

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 trendy on the newer Pixel too.

Battery life

Despite the fact 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 could possibly be as a result of newer Tensor G4 chip or different under-the-hood optimizations.

Both means, the brand new Pixel has an Energetic Use Rating of 12:32h, higher than the 11:14h Energetic 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 net searching and video playback, and these are, arguably, the checks that matter probably the most.

Charging velocity

Each gadgets use the Energy Supply 3.0 normal for wired charging, however the 9 Professional XL’s is rated at 37W, up from the 30W on the 8 Professional. And in keeping with our checks, the positive aspects are noticeable.

The 9 Professional XL should not be document setter but it surely’s noticeably sooner 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%. Because of this, the total charging on the newer Pixel is simply 5 minutes sooner.

In the case of wi-fi charging, each telephones cap at 23W and that is with the non-obligatory Pixel Stand, which gives 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 non-public desire, 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 does not run properly. Fairly the alternative – each gadgets are snappy and responsive of their day-to-day duties.

There is not any important 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 be able to really feel or measure. The bottom storage possibility 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 have been unreliable at figuring out the Tensor G4’s efficiency; in some instances, it reveals inferior efficiency in comparison with the older G3. It could possibly be a software program problem or an issue with our overview unit. Both means, 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 when it comes to 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 the 50MP f/1.7, 1/1.31″ most important shooter 48MP f/2.8, 1/2.55″ 5x periscope telephoto snapper and a 48MP ultrawide digital camera with some adjustments 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 laborious to inform which strategy 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 total high quality appears near-identical. We’re hard-pressed to search out any important 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. Despite the fact 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 wonderful on each telephones, however we anticipated a big 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 smooth and lack wonderful element, which is true for all three cameras on the again. We suspect this can be a software program problem, which Google will handle with a future replace, however for now, the Pixel 8 Professional is the clear winner on this phase.

In all equity, the low-light video by the Pixel 9 Professional XL’s most important digital camera seems to have barely higher definition attributable to 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 are 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 almost sufficient to influence a possible purchaser to shed a number of further hundred bucks. Particularly when you think about the lengthy software program help each gadgets are entitled to and the near-identical digital camera efficiency. In actual fact, the 8 Professional edges out its successor on this regard with better-looking video high quality.