The Pixel 9 Pro is available for pre-order on Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store. For a limited time, you can get the phone with a $200 coupon, but the retail price will remain at $999 going forward.

The iPhone 15 Pro was also launched at a starting price of $999, but thanks to promotional discounts, it is available at a cheaper price.

While the 128GB and 256GB versions of both devices are priced the same, the 512GB and 1TB variants of the iPhone 15 Pro are slightly cheaper than the Pixel 9 Pro. So when it comes to overall value, both devices are neck and neck. But maybe you can find a deal on an iPhone 15 Pro.

design

Google

Both devices have a unique design that sets them apart from other devices. It’s nice to see that the Pixel devices have evolved into a more mature design. While the Pixel 8 Pro’s camera bar extends to the corners, the 9 Pro has a horizontal bar-shaped island.

While the notch is finally gone, the iPhone 15 Pro has a consistent design on the front and back. The now iconic camera island, which gets larger with each iteration, and the subtle and minimal branding give the device a premium look and feel.

The Pixel 9 Pro is available in four color variants: obsidian, porcelain, hazelnut and rose quartz. The iPhone 15 Pro is available in black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium and natural titanium.

The Pixel 9 Pro has a punch-hole cutout on the front to accommodate the camera, while the iPhone 15 Pro has a dynamic island. Apple has cleverly made more practical use of the dynamic island.

In terms of pure design, The Google Pixel 9 series is one of its best performances in yearsand much nicer than a boring looking iPhone.

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The Pixel 9 Pro features a 6.3-inch LTPO OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. This panel offers a resolution of 1280 x 2856 and a peak brightness of 3000 nits.

The iPhone 15 Pro features a slightly smaller 6.1-inch Pro Motion OLED display that supports a 120Hz refresh rate. This display offers a resolution of 2,556 x 1,179 and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits.

Although both devices have similar displays, the Pixel 9 Pro has a larger and brighter displayIt also has a higher resolution compared to the iPhone 15 Pro display.

Cameras

Apple

Both devices have a triple camera on the back and a selfie camera on the front. The Pixel 9 Pro has a 50MP camera with a wide-angle lens, a 48MP sensor with an ultra-wide lens, and a 48MP telephoto camera. For selfies, it has a 42MP camera on the front.

The iPhone 15 Pro’s camera module features a 48MP main camera with a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera and a 12MP camera with 3x optical zoom. There is a 12MP selfie camera on the front.

The Pixel 9 Pro’s camera module seems to be more powerful, but since both devices are known for their software processing and AI algorithms to fine-tune videos and stills, we’ll have to wait for real-world comparisons to fall back on, so we’re going to assume a tie for now.

Technical data

In terms of specs, the two devices differ only slightly. The Pixel 9 Pro has a Tensor G4 SoC paired with 16GB of RAM and will ideally handle most tasks without issues. There are plenty of storage options to choose from.

The iPhone 15 Pro has an A17 Pro chipset under the hood and is one of the most powerful smartphone chipsets. It may have only 8GB of RAM on board, but that doesn’t matter as the optimized operating system plays a major role in the performance and experience. This device can also handle any task thrown at it without stuttering.

The 4700 mAh battery of the Pixel 9 Pro is significantly larger than the 3290 mAh battery of the iPhone 15 ProHowever, Apple does not provide any information about the size of the iPhone batteries. Instead, the company claims that the battery lasts for 24 hours.

Ideally, the Pixel 9 Pro’s larger battery should offer more juice, but we’ll reserve judgment as Pixel devices are known for their mediocre battery performance.

Which one should you get?

Apple

At the hardware level, there is little that separates the two devices. In such cases, software and ecosystems can play an important role.

The Pixel 9 Pro ships with Android 14 and will be updated to Android 15 in about a month. It also has a ton of great AI-powered features that play a crucial role when shooting videos or still images and improve the user experience.

Google’s Gemini Live is also the focus of the Pixel devices. The company says that the app can better understand user behavior and will eventually replace the Google Assistant.

The iPhone 15 Pro also has a lot to offer in terms of software performance. Apple may have fallen behind in this AI race, but it is catching up quickly. The brand new iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence will have some surprises in store when it officially launches. Siri is also getting a lot of attention and upgrades.

Since the prices and software are almost the same, it comes down to individual preferences and the ecosystem you belong to. Each device has advantages and disadvantages. However, when it comes to ecosystem products and devices communicating with each other, Apple’s iPhone 15 ecosystem has a clear lead over Google’s Pixel range.