Google Pixel 10 Pro XL vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Main differences to expect
Another exciting chapter in the ongoing Google-Samsung contest is about to unfold in 2025.
Intro
Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra flagship is already domineering the Android flagship fields in the US, but the competition is ramping up. Google, in particular, will be releasing the milestone Pixel 10 generation this year, and the honor of battling the Galaxy S25 Ultra will fall to the upcoming Pixel 10 Pro XL.
While rumors are still fairly light on the potential specs and features of the Pixel 10 Pro XL (which is honestly surprising for a Google-made device where leaks are running rampant for months beforehand), we still seem to know surprisingly much about the device in question.
Pixel 10 Pro XL vs Galaxy S25 Ultra expected differences:
| Pixel 10 Pro XL | Galaxy S25 Ultra |
|---|---|
| Little to no changes with the previous device's design | Flat and modern titanium design with slightly curved corners |
| No built-in stylus support | Built-in S Pen stylus |
| Large and pronounced camera strip at the back | No camera island, slightly elevated camera cutouts |
| 6.8-inch OLED display, no anti-reflective coating | 6.9-inch OLED screen with anti-reflective coating |
| 3,000 nits of peak brightness | 2,600 nits of peak brightness |
| Google Tensor G5 (3nm TSMC-made) | Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy (3nm) |
| 16GB of RAM | 12GB of memory |
| 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB storage variants | 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB versions |
| 50MP+48MP+48MP rear camera system | 200MP+50MP+10MP+50MP rear camera system |
| 42MP selfie camera | 12MP front-facing camera |
| Probably a 5,000+ mAh battery on board | 5,000mAh battery |
| 37W wired, 23W wireless charging | 45W wired and 15W wireless charging as well |
| Likely coming with Android 16, but Android 15 launch is also possible | Android 15, One UI 7 |
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Design and Size
Consistency is key
It seems that Google might have found a comfortable spot for the Pixel design language, as the rumor mills says we'd get little to no changes with the Pixel 10 Pro XL. This means it will look just like the Pixel 9 Pro XL, which is a good choice; we quite liked the Pixel 9 Pro XL, so we would have zero issues experiencing the same design language for yet another year in a row.
Still, some changes are expected. The rumor mill says we should expect a tiny 0.1mm shorter Pixel 10 Pro XL, which wouldn't be noticeable at all, but might render some of your Pixel 9 Pro XL cases incompatible with the newer device…
The oversized rear camera strip is going nowhere, and the flat aluminum design language is here to stay. Overall, nothing too fancy going on with the Pixel 10 Pro XL design, but that would be the first time Google sticks with the same design language ever since the Pixel 6 revival a few years ago.
| Ppixel 10 Pro XL | Galaxy S25 Ultra |
|---|---|
| Thickness ~8.5mm | Thickness 8.2mm |
| Weight ~221 gr | Weight 218 gr |
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S25 Ultra scored some notable changes in comparison with its predecessors. It evolved some slightly curved corners that brought it up to speed with the design language of the standard Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus. The titanium frame and Corning Gorilla Glass Armor 2 up front and back remain, and so has the anti-reflective screen coating.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra still features a built-in S Pen stylus, and while rumors claim we might eventually see this essential accessory decoupled from the phone itself in a potential future generation, the current Samsung flagship employs the essential feature.
Thanks to some bezel slimming, the Galaxy S25 Ultra now employs a larger 6.9-inch screen, up from the 6.8-inch one on the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
In terms of size, we expect the two phones to be very similar in size, with a slight advantage for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which might be slightly thinner at 8.2mm and a bit lighter.
Both phones will share the IP68 water and dust resistance, now standard among flagships and many mid-rangers alike.
While both phones will employ a standard and pretty similar button layout, the two are inverted: the Galaxy S25 Ultra has the power button below the volume rocker, while the Pixel 10 Pro XL has the volume rocker below the power button. It's a matter of getting used to.
Display Differences
The Pixel 10 Pro XL will most certainly arrive with a 6.8-inch OLED Super Actua screen, with super-high brightness of at least 3,000 nits of peak brightness, smooth 1-120Hz refresh rate, uniform bezels all-around, and a lovely color representation.
One rumor circulating around is that Google might further improve the biometrics by using an even faster and more accurate fingerprint scanner embedded inside the display.
On the other hand, the Galaxy S25 Ultra arrives with a large 6.9-inch display, with around 2,600 nits of peak brightness. However, the display might actually appear to be brighter than the Pixel 10 Pro XL. That's because the Galaxy S25 Ultra arrives with an anti-reflective display coating, which greatly boosts the legibility of the screen.
Other than that, the display itself is a Dynamic OLED 2X one, with a super-smooth 1-120Hz refresh rate, and the signature exceptional color and gamma properties of a flagship Samsung screen.
| Pixel 10 Pro XL | Galaxy S25 Ultra |
|---|---|
| Size 6.8-inch | Size 6.9-inch |
| Peak brightness 3,000 nits | Peak brightness 2,600 nits |
Performance and Software
Tensor finally playing in the 3nm league, but would that be enough?
After years of its Tensor chips built around Samsung's Exynos architecture, Google can finally make its Tensor chip from scratch. That's right, the Tensor G5 will be using a custom AP (application processor) and will be built by TSMC on its 3nm manufacturing process.
That's an exciting development, which could potentially finally elevate the Tensor chip to the performance levels of the latest Snapdragons and Apple's own mobile chips.
The Pixel 10 Pro XL will also come with 16GB of memory for extra headroom for AI, as well as storage versions ranging from 128GB to 1TB.
| Pixel 10 Pro XL | Galaxy S25 Ultra |
|---|---|
| Chipset Tensor G5 3nm | Chipset Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy 3nm |
| Memory 16GB | Memory 12GB |
| Storage 128GB 256GB 512GB 1TB | Storage 256GB 512GB 1TB |
At the same time, the Galaxy S25 Ultra comes along with the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, a custom and slightly overclocked version of Qualcomm's flagship chipset. It's a proper powerhouse that routinely dwells at the top of the performance charts at the moment.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra comes with 12GB of RAM, as well as 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB versions.
The Samsung flagship comes with Android 15 and One UI 7, and there's a chance the Pixel 10 Pro XL could feature Android 15 as well. Usually, Google flagships come with the latest Android version (which would be Android 16 this year), but last year, the Pixel 9 Pro XL shipped with Android 14 and got Android 15 as an OTA update later down the line. There's a chance the same happens with the Pixel 10 Pro XL.
Both devices will be supported for seven years, including software updates, security patches, and feature drops.
Camera
Capable performers
Rumors say the Pixel 10 Pro XL won't feature any major hardware changes for the camera. This means we'll get the same 50MP main camera, 48MP ultrawide, a 48MP telephoto with 5X optical zoom, and a large 42MP selfie camera that we saw on the Pixel 9 Pro XL.
That's alright. The camera hardware on the latest Pixel is already super-capable, and we know for a fact that Google can fine-tune the camera software and the image-processing to squeeze out much better image quality out of the same hardware, so we are fairly optimistic.
On another hand, the Pixel 9 Pro XL already fared very well in terms of image quality and did well in our custom camera test, so we are moderately excited about the upcoming Pixel.
How does the Galaxy S25 Ultra compare?
Samsung's flagship comes with a quad-camera setup at the back, helmed by a high-res 200MP wide-angle camera, a 50MP telephoto camera with 5X optical zoom, a 50MP ultrawide, and a 10MP telephoto with 3X optical zoom. At the front, we have a standard 12MP camera.
| Pixel 10 Pro XL | Galaxy S25 Ultra |
|---|---|
| Wide 50MP F1.68 | Wide 200MP F1.7 |
| Ultrawide 48MP F1.7 | Ultrawide 50MP F1.9 |
| Periscope 48MP 5X zoom | Periscope 50MP 5X zoom |
| - | Telephoto 10MP 3X zoom |
| Front 42MP F2.2 | Front 12MP |
Battery Life and Charging
Few changes expected
Right now, we don't really expect any major developments with the battery situation on the Pixel 10 Pro XL.
This means that we're likely getting a battery in the ballpark of 5,000mAh on Google's next Pixel flagship. The recent Pixel 9a came with a large 5,100mAh battery, the largest on any Pixel, including the Pixel 9a's 5,060mAh battery, so our guess is as good as yours as to what capacity the Pixel 10 Pro XL could employ.
At the same time, Samsung also continues to rely on a 5,000mAh battery, which has been the case with many of the latest Galaxy S Ultra phones.
Charging-wise, we expect no changes: at least 37W wired charging for the Pixel 10 Pro XL. The Galaxy S25 Ultra comes with 45W wired fast-charging.
| Pixel 10 Pro XL | Galaxy S25 Ultra |
|---|---|
| Battery ~5,060mAh | Battery 5,000mAh |
| Wiredd charging 37W | Wired charging 45W |
| Wireless charging 23W | Wireless charging 15W |
Specs Comparison
Here's how the Pixel 10 Pro XL and the Galaxy S25 Ultra specs might compare.
| Pixel 10 Pro XL | Galaxy S25 Ultra |
|---|---|
| Size, weight 162.7 x 76.6 x 8.5 mm 221gr | Size, weight 162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2 mm 218gr |
| Screen 6.8" OLED 120Hz 3,000 nits | Screen 6.9" OLED 120Hz Anti-reflective 2,600 nits |
| Processor Google Tensor G5 3nm | Processor Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy 3nm |
| Versions: 16GB/128GB 16GB/256GB 16GB/512GB 16GB/1TB LPDDR5 | Versions: 12GB/256GB 12GB/512GB 12GB/1TB LPDDR5 |
| Cameras: 50MP main 48MP ultra 48MP 5X zoom 42MP front | Cameras: 200MP main 50MP ultra 50MP 5X zoom 10MP 3X zoom 12MP front |
| Battery: ~5,060 mAh | Battery: 5,000 mAh |
| Charging: USB-C 37W wired 23W wireless | Charging: USB-C 45W wired 15W wireless |
Summary
The Pixel 10 Pro XL is currently shaping up to be a minor improvement of last year's excellent Pixel 9 Pro XL. With faster chipset, potentially better cameras, and Google's alluring Gemini AI suite make this device a one to watch out for in 2025.
At the same time, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is easily one of the best Android phones available in the US right now. It's the best-spec'd one, with the most exciting design language, and the added benefit of the S Pen stylus.
One thing is for certain, the battle between these two Android devices will be legendary!
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