Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. Google Pixel 10 Pro XL

In the market for a big-screen Android flagship? If so, it’s nearly impossible not to come across the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra or the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL.

The newly announced Galaxy S26 Ultra and the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL are two different worlds, or just the two opposite ends of the spectrum called Android, if you wish. One represents a philosophy built around heavy customizations and heaps upon heaps of features (S26 Ultra), while the other represents Google’s take on the Android experience (Pixel 10 Pro XL). That doesn’t mean there are no proprietary features on the Pixel, but let’s face it, Samsung One UI has always offered a long list of functionalities you won’t find on a vanilla Android. So let’s see how these two compare.

Table of Contents:

For starters, you can compare the complete specs sheets or directly continue with our editor’s assessment in the following video or the text below.

The software disparities are just one aspect. We also have hardware and camera experience to discuss and compare, so let’s dig in.

Size comparison

Aside from the obvious design differences (vertical vs. horizontal camera stack, sharper corners vs. more oval ones), there are nuances to the build that give the Galaxy S26 Ultra an edge over the Pixel 10 Pro XL. For instance, the Samsung is thinner and lighter at roughly the same screen diagonal and offers higher protection by using Gorilla Glass Armor 2 sheet on the front. At the same time, the Pixel 10 Pro XL settles for Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on both sides. That’s assuming the claims that Armor 2 is indeed more durable than Victus 2.

One thing to note is that the Pixel 10 Pro XL’s camera bulge is somewhat more practical in the sense that the phone doesn’t wobble when placed on a flat surface, while the S26 Ultra is borderline frustrating to operate when lying flat on a desk.

Display comparison

The specs sheet may be misleading to some extent, as it implies that these displays are made equal. However, the Galaxy S26 Ultra once again has a slight edge over the Pixel thanks to two specific features. One is the anti-reflective coating that improves sunlight legibility, while the other is the so-called Privacy Display. Go read more about it in our in-depth review, but the gist of it is that it prevents people from seeing the contents of the screen from a certain angle when activated. It limits the viewing angle and prevents “shoulder surfing.”

On the other hand, the Pixel 10 Pro XL’s display shows higher max brightness, potentially mitigating the absence of an anti-reflective coating. In our tests, the Pixel easily goes beyond 2,200 nits on a 75% white surface, which is a significant difference compared to the 1,400 nits that the S26 Ultra’s display offers.

Battery life

Don’t let the battery capacity fool you. The extra 200 mAh that you gain from the Pixel 10 Pro XL doesn’t amount to anything significant in the real world, as evidenced by our battery life tests. The Pixel drags behind the competition in terms of battery life, while the Galaxy S26 Ultra has a particularly strong showing for a phone with a 5,000 mAh pack.

And it’s not just about the Active Use Score. The Ultra earns better scores in almost all categories, except web browsing, and beats the Pixel by a significant margin.

Charging speed

Both phones offer an upgrade in charging speed over their predecessors, but only one of them makes a difference, and that’s the Galaxy S26 Ultra. It supports 60W fast wired charging over Power Delivery, while the Pixel 10 Pro XL caps at 45W using the same Power Delivery standard.

Naturally, the Ultra is faster at every checkpoint – 15 minutes, 30 minutes and at full charge. The gap is not minute either. The Pixel charges almost half as fast as the Galaxy.

Additionally, the Pixel 10 Pro XL has an algorithm baked in that limits the charging speed after around 200 cycles. We don’t have any concrete numbers, but that’s what Google claims, so expect even slower charging after a year of use. The goal is to preserve battery health over the years.

While both phones are technically rated to support 25W wireless charging, the S26 Ultra is missing the built-in magnets required by the Qi2.1 standard. In order to benefit from the highest wireless charging speed possible, you need to use a phone case with magnets of its own. In contrast, the Pixel has the magnets built right in and supports all Qi2.1 accessories out of the box (Pixel Snap as Google labels it).

Speaker test

When it comes to sound, we would once again pick the Galaxy over the Pixel even though the latter is a tad louder.

Overall, the S26 Ultra offers better tuning with more pronounced bass, better mids and warmer vocals.

Performance

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is equipped with an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, branded “for Galaxy”, while the Pixel 10 Pro XL uses Google’s Tensor G5 SoC. The Tensor has significantly lower clocks and a less powerful GPU that doesn’t support ray tracing and certain Vulkan features. This matters for gamers, but the Tensor is clearly not designed for games anyway. Nor is the Pixel, for that matter.

Both phones start at 256GB base storage and cap at 1TB, but the Pixel offers 16GB of RAM on all of its configurations, while the Galaxy has 12GB for the 256 and 512GB versions.

Benchmark performance

Evidently, the SD8 Elite Gen 5 is twice as powerful as the Tensor G5 in pretty much all synthetic benchmark scenarios.

As far as the software is concerned, we’ve already touched on that, but with the Pixel, you will get the latest Android features by Google as they become available, along with some Pixel-exclusive stuff. Major Android updates will arrive on the Pixel sooner than on the Galaxy, too.

On the other hand, Samsung offers more AI novelties, customization options, more productivity features, including an S Pen, and a more polished desktop experience via Samsung DeX.

Both phones offer 7 years of full software support, which is the longest commitment you get in the Android world.

Camera comparison

The Galaxy S26 Ultra and the Pixel 10 Pro XL feature essentially two identical camera systems. Well, not entirely identical – the Galaxy has an extra 3x camera that the Pixel doesn’t. But if we set that one aside (and you’ll see soon enough that it’s not unreasonable to do so), the similarities extend to the key things – sensor sizes and lens focal lengths.

Both phones’ rear setups are headlined by 1/1.3″ sensor wide-angle main cameras. AF-capable ultrawides and 100-something millimeter 5x telephotos, all of them with 1/2.5″ sensors, complete the trios that matter. And then there’s the tiny sensor 3x camera of the Samsung, of course.

On the front, there’s a bit more of a tangible difference – the Galaxy’s selfie camera is wider this year, at 23mm, but it’s no match for the Pixel’s ultrawide 18mm setup (EXIF does say 17mm), and the sensors are also sort of different – a conventional 12MP on the Galaxy, a Quad Bayer-type one on the Pixel (not that that in itself will make much of a difference).

Image quality

Daylight

Main camera photos from the two phones in daylight at 1x are more similar than they are different, with the Pixel’s slightly grittier detail rendition possibly passing for slightly better detail. The Galaxy’s colors can be a touch more vibrant. It’s splitting hairs though, really.

Daylight comparison, main camera (1x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

When it comes to human subjects, the Galaxy likes to render facial tones with a touch of warmth and extra saturation, while the Pixel keeps things more neutral – both valid approaches, probably.

Human subjects comparison, main camera (1x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

The Galaxy has more of a tangible advantage in sharpness at 2x – itself not the best in this respect, it’s still superior to the Pixel.

Daylight comparison, main camera (2x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

With human subjects at 2x, we had a bit of a mixed experience – maybe the Galaxy struggled with the light in the first scene making it unusually soft, but typically its shots should be sharper than on the Pixel. The difference in color remains.

Human subjects comparison, main camera (2x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

We entertained a comparison at 3x even though the Pixel doesn’t have that focal length natively. The thing is though, the Google phone appears to be doing composites, with the center taken from its 5x camera and the periphery filled in from the main camera. So if you keep what’s important in the middle of the frame, you’ll get nicely sharp results. Couple that with the ultimately meh quality of the Galaxy’s 3x camera, and the Pixel just might be better at this zoom level.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (3x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

Comparing the 5x telephoto cameras, there are subtle differences, but not necessarily a clear winner. Both capture essentially the same level of detail in most circumstances, and do so with a certain digital rendition – it’s alright, it’s not superb.

Daylight comparison, telephoto camera (5x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

With human subjects at 5x, the Galaxy continues to lean towards a yellowish warmth, while the Pixel remains more neutral, or perhaps slightly pinkish.

Human subjects comparison, telephoto camera (5x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

Zooming in further to 10x, the Galaxy has a notable detail advantage in bright outdoor scenes – like it did at 2x. With dimmer indoor scenes, on the other hand, its quality drops and the playing field is mostly level.

Daylight comparison, telephoto camera (10x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

In the ultrawide battle, the photos are also pretty similar altogether, with the Pixel perhaps being sharper than the Galaxy in the middle of the frame, but dropping in sharpness towards the edges, while the Galaxy is more uniform, but not as sharp in the center. The Galaxy is noticeably more liberal with its greens next to the Pixel’s more restrained colors, so that can count as a difference in this world of sameness.

Daylight comparison, ultrawide camera (0.6x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

Low light

We’ve talked about the Galaxy’s unreliable behavior in low light when it comes to its night mode processing, but against rivals like the iPhone or the Pixel , it’s not that big of a deal. Indeed, at 1x in full auto, the Galaxy and the Pixel capture, once again, very similar quality photos – the Galaxy can be a little bit more relaxed with its processing (more noise, natural-looking detail), while the Pixel is slightly more eager to do a bit of auto Night mode (Night Sight, excuse us).

Low-light comparison, main camera (1x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

The Pixel’s dedicated Night Sight mode does better than the Galaxy with its auto Night mode maxed out (where available).

Low-light comparison, main camera (1x), night mode: Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

The Galaxy has the upper hand at 2x, however, with the gap varying between smallish and significant. Night mode or no Night mode, the Pixel is behind on this one.

Low-light comparison, main camera (2x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

Low-light comparison, main camera (2x), night mode: Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

Ironically, the Pixel isn’t really losing at 3x in the dark either. Sure, its photos might be softer in the periphery than they are in the center, but those from the Galaxy are soft throughout. Getting some Night mode action on the Galaxy does give it a bit of a boost, but it’s not exactly winning.

Low-light samples, telephoto camera (3x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

Low-light samples, telephoto camera (3x), night mode: Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

At 5x, the Pixel’s auto balance proved borderline clueless in this comparison – it wasn’t exactly foolproof at review time, but for this set it was off more often than not. Either way, detail is about on par between the two phones, night mode or otherwise.

Low-light comparison, telephoto camera (5x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

Low-light comparison, telephoto camera (5x), night mode: Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

While both phones show plenty of noise and softness in the shadows at 10x, the Pixel’s images tend to be sharper in most situations.

Low-light comparison, telephoto camera (10x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

Low-light comparison, telephoto camera (10x), night mode: Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

If we had to pick one ultrawide out of these two, we’d probably go for the Pixel’s but we can just as well flip a coin.

Low-light comparison, ultrawide camera: Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

Low-light comparison, ultrawide camera, night mode: Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

Selfies

If you’re a fan of ultrawide selfies, it’s an easy win for the Pixel and its 18mm equivalent lens. Quality isn’t half bad either, though detail is a bit pixelated. The Galaxy, on the other hand, isn’t as wide, though the 23mm focal length still offers plenty of coverage, and the detail quality is hard to rival. The Pixel’s advertised autofocus is there, but it’s not exactly as useful as some may want – the Galaxy will focus on your mug from almost uncomfortable distances, the Pixel won’t.

Selfies comparison: Galaxy S26 Ultra • Pixel 10 Pro XL

Video quality

The Galaxy’s video recording feature set is more expansive – it has a fairly decent Pro video mode, while the Pixel doesn’t go much further than a point and shoot experience. The Pixel needs to resort to cloud-based processing to give you 8K and it doesn’t record 4K120 – the Galaxy will happily do 4K120 and will also encode 8K locally, though we’re not sure just how important either of that is. Along the same vein of ‘it’s there, but will you need it’ is the Galaxy’s new Horizon lock stabilization and the inclusion of the pro-grade APV codec (Advanced Professional Video).

The Pixel has a bit of an advantage in sharpness when looking at the ultrawide videos, and it just might have the upper hand at 1x. 2x clips are pretty bad from both though the Galaxy’s softer but more natural take is probably less bad. The Pixel can’t compete at 3x in video like it did in stills. The Galaxy is slightly better at 5x than the Pixel and the advantage gets bigger at 10x.

Daylight video screengrabs, Galaxy S26 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 3x • 5x • 10x

Daylight video screengrabs, Pixel 10 Pro XL: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 3x • 5x • 10x

The Galaxy’s low-light videos are pretty noisy, with almost too much chroma noise in them, but even so they’re probably better than the Pixel’s thanks to better sharpness and detail throughout the zoom range.

Low-light video screengrabs, Galaxy S26 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 3x • 5x • 10x

Low-light video screengrabs, Pixel 10 Pro XL: 0.6x • 1x • 3x • 5x • 10x

Verdict

Strictly looking at the hardware and software capabilities of both phones, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is the clear winner. It has a more feature-packed display, considerably more powerful chipset with a broader feature set, which might be important if you tend to play games, faster charging, longer battery life, nicer speakers, an S Pen and a more feature-rich OS. When it comes to the camera experience, the S26 Ultra betters the Pixel in the selfie department with higher-quality stills and better low-light videos in general.

Speaking of videos, the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s pro-grade video, native 4K@120fps and 8K@30fps video recording capabilities, and Horizon Lock might entice you. Especially if you are into editing your own footage, the APV codec will definitely come in handy.

On the other hand, the Pixel 10 Pro XL is still a capable big-screen flagship, appealing to the Android purist crowd. Having a significantly lower price tag also helps. Google’s phone costs €300 less in Europe and is around $350 cheaper in the US. That’s a considerable price difference.

With time, the price gap will shrink, but the feature and hardware disparity won’t, making it’s hard to deny the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s superiority in almost every aspect.