Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Pixel 6 Pro — price and hardware comparison

Google announced its Pixel 6 Pro during an online event this week, and it boasts hardware specifications to challenge Samsung’s premium device, the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

According to Google, the Pixel 6 Pro is its first true flagship smartphone.

While the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra was launched nearly a full year before the Pixel 6 Pro, both devices offer class-leading performance, battery life, and camera systems.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is the heavier and larger of the two devices, weighing in at 227g compared to Pixel 6 Pro’s 207g. The two devices are of equal thickness.

Both devices also feature displays with 120Hz refresh rates and offer similar pixel densities — the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s display has 515 pixels-per-inch, and the Pixel 6 Pro has 512 pixels-per-inch.

As a result, the displays are expected to provide similar image quality, with the Galaxy S21 Ultra offering a slightly larger screen at 6.8-inches compared to the 6.7-inches of the Pixel 6 Pro.

In terms of processing power, the Pixel 6 Pro (and Pixel 6) is the first device to contain Google’s in-house Tensor chip, which features a 2 × 2 × 4 core configuration.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra also contains an octa-core processor — the Exynos 2100 — and offers 12GB or 16GB of RAM, with the Pixel 6 Pro only offering a 12GB option.

At first glance, the Galaxy S21 Ultra seems to trump the Pixel 6 Pro when it comes to camera capabilities. It offers a quad-camera system with a 108-megapixel primary, 10-megapixel periscope telephoto, 10-megapixel telephoto, and 12-megapixel ultrawide lens.

Google’s Pixel 6 Pro has a triple-camera setup, featuring a 50-megapixel primary, 48-megapixel telephoto, and 12-megapixel ultrawide lens.

The Samsung device can record 8K video at 24 frames per second (fps) and 4K video at 60 fps, while the Pixel 6 Pro only offers 4K.

When it comes to zoom capabilities, Samsung also takes the upper hand with 100x digital zoom on the S21 Ultra, compared to the Pixel 6 Pro’s 20x digital zoom.

However, the Pixel 6 Pro offers impressive new camera features, such as “Magic Eraser” and “Face Unblur”.

Both devices are similar in battery capacity, only differing by three milliamp hours. They also both offer 30W fast charging.

It is important to consider that different device optimisations contribute largely to battery consumption, so sheer capacity is not an accurate measurement.

Both devices charge through USB Type-C connections.

Specifications

The specifications and prices of both devices are provided in the table below.

Galaxy S21 Ultra

Pixel 6 Pro