Updated March 31st 2025, 17:55 IST
Apple and Google are often battling in the premium smartphone market. While the iPhone Pro models often take the lion’s share, Pixels gather reverence for their ability to offer a premium smartphone experience. While having commonalities, both phones are quite different in terms of their specifications and ecosystem. So, which one is better? That depends on what a customer wants from their next smartphone for over ₹1 lakh. Here is a side-by-side comparison between the Google Pixel 9 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro.
Display: Google’s Pixel 9 Pro has a 6.3-inch OLED display with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, and a peak brightness of 3000 nits. With a resolution of 1280x2856 pixels, the display uses Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for protection. The iPhone 16 Pro also has a 6.3-inch display, featuring a Super Retina XDR OLED panel with support for an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10, Dolby Vision, and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. It uses Ceramic Shield glass for protection, instead.
Processor: Powering the Pixel 9 Pro is Google’s Tensor G4 chip, based on a 4nm process. It has eight cores: one high-performance core, three premium-efficiency cores, and four high-efficiency cores. The smartphone packs up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. On the other hand, the iPhone 16 Pro rocks an A18 Pro chip, housing two high-performance cores and four power-efficiency cores. The iPhone 16 Pro packs 8GB of RAM and offers up to 1TB of storage. Both phones lack support for expandable storage.
Cameras: Both smartphones have three rear snappers and one front camera. However, their sensors are different. The Pixel 9 Pro uses a 50MP wide sensor with optical image stabilisation (OIS), a 48MP periscope telephoto sensor with 5x optical zoom and OIS, and a 48MP ultrawide sensor. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro has a 48MP wide sensor with sensor-shift OIS, a 12MP periscope telephoto sensor with sensor-shift OIS and 5x optical zoom, and a 48MP ultrawide sensor. It also has a fourth Time-of-Flight (ToF) LiDAR scanner to map depths. Pixel 9 Pro’s front camera houses a 42MP sensor, while the iPhone 16 Pro packs a 12MP TrueDepth sensor.
Battery: The Google Pixel 9 Pro packs a 4700mAh battery with 27W fast wired charging and 21W fast wireless Pixel Stand charging. On the other hand, the iPhone 16 Pro houses a 3582mAh battery with charging technology claimed to fill up 50 per cent of the battery in 30 minutes using official chargers. The iPhone 16 Pro also supports 25W MagSafe charging.
While the Pixel 9 Pro costs ₹1,09,999 for the 16GB/256GB version, the iPhone 16 Pro starts at ₹1,19,900 for the 128GB version.
Published March 31st 2025, 17:55 IST