Deals: Apple iPhone 16 series vs. Google Pixel 9 series

Samsung’s new Galaxy Z foldables will be on pre-order for another week, so let’s look at Apple and Google offerings instead – both the iPhone 16 and Pixel 9 series have some solid price cuts at the moment.

Starting with the big guns, the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max and Google Pixel 9 Pro XL have 6.9” and 6.8” displays, respectively, 120Hz LTPO panels. Both have capable cameras, though the Pixel seemingly has the upper hand with a 48MP 113mm periscope compared to 12MP 120mm on the iPhone. Check out our iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. Pixel 9 Pro XL article for camera samples and a detailed comparison of the two flagships.

The Apple iPhone 16 Pro and Google Pixel 9 Pro both have 6.3” displays, but the iPhone is 3mm shorter and 0.5mm narrower. Both weigh 199g. Also, both have the same cameras as their larger siblings. Unfortunately, Amazon is quite low on Pixel 9 Pro units right now.

Google has no direct competitor to the Apple iPhone 16 Plus – it’s basically an iPhone 16 with a larger 6.7” display and a larger 4,674mAh battery.

So, we move on to the 6.1” Apple iPhone 16 and 6.3” Google Pixel 9. The Pixel has the bigger main camera sensor (50MP 1/1.31” vs. 48MP 1/1.56”) and higher resolution ultra-wide (48MP vs. 12MP), however, the iPhone has better battery life (per our Active use test it’s 15:42h vs. 13:05h).

Finally, the cheap models. Though in the case of the Apple iPhone 16e we probably have to use air quotes around “cheap”. This €600+ phone has a single camera on the back, a tiny 48MP 1/2.55” sensor at that. The Google Pixel 9a at least has a 13MP ultra-wide to stand next to the 48MP 1/2.0” main.

The iPhone also has a wide notch eating into its 6.1” display, while the punch hole on the 6.3” Pixel display is less bothersome. The Apple A18 is faster than the Tensor G4, but the Pixel gets better battery life (12:42h vs. 11:53h), though that is largely due to the bigger battery.

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