Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra vs Google Pixel 4 XL: specs, size and design comparison

When you turn the S20 Ultra around, however, you’re greeted with something more professional than luxurious: a massive camera module. Suddenly, you feel like that’s a camera first and a smartphone second. The Pixel 4 XL camera, which until recently we considered big, now pales in comparison. The look of the Ultra is definitely an acquired taste but it doesn’t fail to pull your attention towards the phone’s main advantage over the other S20 phones. But more about the cameras later.

Unsurprisingly, the Ultra beats the Pixel when it comes to size. A 6.9-inch display means a big body, no way around it. Thanks to the aforementioned top bezel, however, the Pixel 4 XL is not much smaller despite its 6.3-inch screen.

Both displays are OLED with QHD resolution and high refresh-rate but the S20 gets extra points for having 120Hz instead of the Pixel’s 90Hz. One caveat, however, is that in order to take advantage of the high refresh-rate of the Samsung, you have to turn down the resolution to 1080p.

Galaxy S20 Ultra vs Pixel 4 XL specs comparison

The differences continue to pile up with full force when we get to the specs of the two phones. Here’s a quick rundown of the most important ones:


In short, the S20 Ultra has more of everything. More powerful CPU and GPU thanks to the Snapdragon 865, twice the memory which is also much faster (LPDDR5 vs LPDDR4) and twice the storage with the option to add more via the MicroSD card slot.

To top it off, the battery is 35% larger as well, which should result in great battery life despite the massive display.

One thing the Pixel 4 XL has as an advantage is the radar system embedded in the top bezel. Besides the relatively useless air gestures, it’s purpose is to serve as a secure face unlock. Needless to say, no one buys a Pixel because of it, but we had to mention it so there’s at least some trading of punches.

But we all know the Pixel’s major strength is its camera, so how does it stack against the Ultra in that department?

Galaxy S20 Ultra vs Pixel 4 XL camera specs comparison

Before we continue with what is basically Samsung trampling over Google, we should say that there’s a lot more than hardware that determines the quality of smartphone photography. Google has always managed to squeeze a ton of performance from uninspiring hardware using its camera software.

And yet, there are things that software can’t do, and the Samsung phone can do many of those things thanks to the aforementioned giant camera module. Here’s what it has in store:


As you can see, there’s no question which phone has the better hardware. The Galaxy S20 Ultra not only has two additional sensors but the ones that correspond to what the Pixel has, are way better.

108MP main sensor vs a 12MP one? Again, megapixels aren’t everything, but they do offer some advantages like combining the data from 9 pixels into one (called nona-binning) for sharper and brighter low-light photography.

And the 2x telephoto lens on the Pixel? Just not enough in 2020. The Samsung comes with a 5x optical zoom tele-camera that goes up to 100x with the help of Samsung’s new camera features such as Super Resolution Zoom and Space Zoom. Space Zoom! Now that’s “Ultra”!

The two additional sensors on the S20 are just the cherry on top. We don’t know how far along Google is with the design of the Pixel 5, but if it wants to remain relevant, it better bring some new hardware to the table because the competition isn’t playing around.

Conclusion

As we said in the beginning, this comparison is not quite fair. It’s obvious Samsung went for overkill with the S20 Ultra and that’s reflected in its price as well. But now that it exists, we can’t help but consider it whenever smartphone cameras are the focus of attention and if other manufacturers don’t want to be shamed, they better bring their a-game and do it soon.

Now all that’s left is to get the S20 Ultra and put it through its paces to see if it can deliver on the order its hardware made.