The Battle of AI-Powered Flagships: A Comparison between Google Pixel 9 and Apple iPhone 16 Plus
When it comes to Artificial Intelligence, Google's Pixel series has been gaining momentum over the past few years. While Apple's iPhone 16 Plus may have a powerful processor under the hood, its AI capabilities fall short compared to its Android counterpart. In this article, we'll delve into the world of AI-powered smartphones and compare the Google Pixel 9 with the Apple iPhone 16 Plus.
One area where the Google Pixel 9 shines is in its magic editor. This feature allows users to edit their photos with ease, making it a game-changer for mobile photographers. The magic editor on the Pixel 9 is something that Siri could only dream of replicating. With its advanced AI-powered editing tools, users can enhance their photos like never before. On the other hand, the iPhone 16 Plus has pixel Studio, which is a solid editing feature in its own right but doesn't quite match the magic editor's capabilities.
Another area where the Pixel 9 excels is in its AI-powered features. The phone comes equipped with a range of AI-powered tools, including Face Unlock and an ultrasonic fingerprint reader. While Face ID on the iPhone 16 Plus may be convenient in certain situations, it doesn't quite match the security and convenience of the Pixel 9's Face Unlock feature. Additionally, the Pixel 9 has Google Assistant built-in, which is a far more advanced AI-powered assistant compared to Siri.
Battery Life: A Key Differentiator
When it comes to battery life, the Google Pixel 9 takes the lead over the Apple iPhone 16 Plus. With a battery capacity of 4,700 milliamp hours, the Pixel 9 can easily outlast its rival by several hours. In our everyday use tests, we found that both phones came close to an 8-hour mark when it comes to screen-on time. However, if you need to top up your phone in a hurry, the Pixel 9's wired charging speed of 27 watts gives it a significant edge over the iPhone 16 Plus.
Wireless Charging: A Mixed Bag
Wireless charging is another feature where the two phones differ significantly. While the Pixel 9 can charge via Mac Safe and produce 15 WS of wireless charging using the Pixel Stand, the iPhone 16 Plus only produces 12 WS of wireless charging using a standard wireless charger. However, it's worth noting that the wireless charging speeds may vary depending on the method used to charge your phone.
Software Experience: A Key Differentiator
When it comes to software experience, the Google Pixel 9 takes a clear lead over the Apple iPhone 16 Plus. iOS 18, despite its refined design, doesn't quite match the maturity and polish of Android's latest iteration. The Pixel 9's UI is more streamlined and user-friendly, making it easier to navigate through menus and find features quickly. Additionally, the phone's software experience is far more secure than the iPhone 16 Plus, thanks to Google's rigorous testing process.
Benchmarking: Raw Performance
When it comes to raw performance, the Apple iPhone 16 Plus takes a slight lead over the Google Pixel 9 in benchmark tests. However, when it comes to real-world usage and everyday tasks, the Pixel 9 proves itself to be more than capable of handling demanding tasks with ease. The phone's camera capabilities are particularly impressive, thanks to its advanced AI-powered features.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the choice between the Google Pixel 9 and Apple iPhone 16 Plus depends on your individual needs and preferences. While the iPhone may have a powerful processor under the hood, its AI capabilities fall short compared to its Android counterpart. The Pixel 9's magic editor, Face Unlock, and advanced software experience make it a better choice for many users. However, if you're deeply invested in the Apple ecosystem, the iPhone 16 Plus may still be worth considering.
As always, we'd love to hear from our readers. Do you prefer the Google Pixel 9 or the Apple iPhone 16 Plus? Let us know in the comments! If you subscribe to our channel, don't forget to hit that notification bell and join the conversation. We'll see you in the next video!
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso this is the Google pixel 9 and this is the iPhone 16 and they're both the entry level phone from both Google and apple but which one is the right pick for you well apple offers you two versions you have the regular for $799 and then you have the Plus for $100 more at $899 and sadly Google only give you the one choice here at $799 so in terms of pricing they're both on par and no matter which one of these phones you pick up the storage option you going to get is just 128 gigs I do like that Apple give you that choice between a regular and a plus size and I wish this is something that Google would adopt with their vanilla pixel 9 the pixel will give you a fair few years of updates with Google promising seven years of them so if you pick this up now then you know in 7 years time that you're still going to be getting Android updates and apple never tell you exactly how long they'll support iPhones 4 but the iPhone 10s is still getting support for iOS 18 and that is almost 7 years old so in terms of updates it looks like that both Google and apple are pretty much on par with this now I'll tell you the benchmarks of each of these phones and the iPhone 16 does beat the pixel 9 in almost every single way but for me benchmarks don't exactly tell you the full story of what it's like to use a phone yes the iPhone beats the pixel 9 in single and multicore here but every single day in use that doesn't really relate to much I do want to touch on the design of both of these phones from Google and apple and I have to mention one thing here that I cannot believe that Apple still get away with and that is putting a 60 HZ display in this phone I just don't understand why it's still happening and I know we hear loads about regular people don't need 120 HZ but also regular people didn't need an ultrawide lens and regular people didn't need AI but now we have it we wouldn't go back and it makes it feel like you're getting more for your money and 60 HZ here is something that I just don't think you should be getting when you're spending $700 or $899 on a brand new phone in 20124 apple really needs to up this Google Lo does beat Apple in this respect because if you pick up the regular pixel 9 you will get 120 htz so putting these side by side there is just no competition here now in terms of the display size on the regular iPhone 16 you get 6.1 in and on the plus you get 6.7 in where as Google like mentioned only give you one size and it kind of fits in between here because you get 6.3 in on the pixel 9 and on these displays I should mention that Apple do not give the iPhone 16 an always on display it saves that for its Pro phones whereas on the Google pixel 99 you do get that always on display so I do think Google here is just winning if you're interested in some Peak brightness numbers then the iPhone is slightly dimmer at 2,000 nits and that pixel 9 goes up to 2 2,700 nits and I can't say this has been massively noticeable when indoors outside you can tell that the pixel9 is ever so slightly brighter but I wouldn't say it is Miles Ahead now in terms of the rest of the design the actual feel in the hand of these phones is really similar because they're both rounded and Google did that new redesign this year for that pixel 9 and if you're not really looking and you pick up one of these phones you can't tell exactly which one you've picked up the pixel 9 has this really nice matte finish on the side rails and the iPhone 16 has something very similar and it's more of the same when you turn these phones around you'll find that matte finish on the iPhone and that less premium glossy finish on the pixel and as a side note I've got to mention the colors on this year's iPhone 16s because Apple has absolutely knocked it out the park with these that ultramarine is one of my favorite colors I've seen in a long time and not even far behind is that teal colors I wish Google would put some more exciting colors on their phones this year so in terms of the colors I think the iPhone absolutely take this I should mention very quickly the camera design here as well because they've both changed the designs this year the pixel has its two camera visor on the back whil the iPhone has reverted back to something we saw way back on the iPhone 11 pretty much having the cameras stack above each other and I know that the iPhone changed the camera design for its spatial video but I just think that the pixels camera housing is more bold and more out there and it just looks a little bit more modern it's cool I really like it the camera housing has a main camera sensor and an ultra wide on both of these and the pixel has a 48 map Ultra wide compared that to the 12 map of the iPhone let's start with the ultra wide and to me it seems like the iPhone wants to boost the shadows in almost every single photo while the pixel looks a bit darker it is a little bit more real to what I was seeing personally I think there's a little bit more detail on the pixel's ultra wide photos compared to the I phones and when it comes to low light on the ultra wide the pixel hands down is the winner here there's more detail on the photos of the pixel whilst the iPhone all look a little bit flat and just a bit dull the pixel does seem to add some processing to brighten up the images ever so slightly but I'd rather have that in these low light shots than have something with darkness and very little detail for the main cameras it is much closer between the two and this time whilst the iPhone does increase the Shadows just a little bit you can see that photos side by side here they do look very similar the details that you can get on these main cameras look absolutely great and for me I think the colors are handled really well by both the iPhone and the pixel I have to say that both of these phones give me that real to life look for low light on these phones the iPhone performance is much better than it did on that Ultra wide lens but for me it is still just a little bit dark for my liking the pixel handles colors just a little bit better and it does give a little bit more detail on the shadows as you do lose a bit of that when you're using the iPhone again just like the ultra wide the pixel does add a bit of processing here to brighten up that image but this is something that I actually really like and it gives you a usable photo and I'll touch on it really quickly here and it's the camera control on the iPhone 16s I find this really difficult to use I don't think it's easy I don't think it's intuitive and if anything it actually makes taking photos a little bit more difficult it's not positioned in the right place and I feel like all I do is accidentally touch this when I'm taking photos which ends up making them actually look a little bit worse so for me it's having good effort Apple but the camera control is really not the one for video they can both do 4K at 60 frames a second and for me I've said this before about the iPhone video and it is just better than the pixel it pains me to say it but it is true while the pixel has caught up a fair bit in the last couple of years on the iPhone it just looks a little bit more cinematic like and it gives you much better stabilization and while the dynamic range is similar it does do a better job on the iPhone 16 let's talk about the AI offerings that both of these phones give you and the pixel really is like overrun with AI whilst at the moment the iPhone really doesn't have anything as it stands the iPhone 16 has no apple intelligence features at all unless you run the iOS 18 beta which I don't think you should really have to do there is no new Siri it's as bad as ever and you just don't have simple features like cleanup it's been advertised as a phone built from the ground up for Apple intelligence but if you put this side by side with any other iPhone running iOS 18 that really isn't a difference on the pixel 9 then you have more AI than you even know what to do with there is Gemini live which is something that Siri could only dream of being you have magic editor you have pixel Studio there is so much to mention that I can't go through all in this video but there really is a gulf between these phones when it comes to Ai and having said that I wouldn't buy one over the other because of its AI features but I just think Apple don't sell me a phone that has no AI features on it at all that I have to wait 6 months to even get a full roll out for so Google in terms of it AI is Miles Ahead here I do want to talk about some Everyday Use cases now with both of these phones and I'm going to talk about battery first the battery on the pixel 9 is 4,700 milliamp hours which beats the regular iPhone 16 and even just squeezes ahead of the iPhone 16 plus and I've mainly used the iPhone 16 plus and the pixel 9 and both of these phones come pretty close with its screen on time so I get around about 7 to 8 hours with each of these and there hasn't been many occasions where I've been dropping Bel below 20% especially on days where I've just been sat at my desk so actually I've been really happy with the battery life that these phones will give you if you do need to top up these phones in a hurry though the pixel 9 will give you 27 WS of wired charging which should get you to about 55% in around 30 minutes and from the times that I've been using it that seems pretty accurate Apple won't tell us exactly what their wied charging speed is but we've measured this to be around about 21 wats the wireless charging speeds though will differ between what method you're using to charge your phone so for example with the pixel 9 if you're using that pixel stand you can get 15 WS of wireless charging but if you just use a standard wireless charger then you're only going to get 12 WS for the iPhone it's a bit quicker at 25 WS if you charge via Mac safe but then it's 15 wats using any G2 wireless charger in terms of using these phones every single day and unlocking them I prefer one method over the other and I'll get a little bit of hate for this and it's not that I'm a fanboy of iPhone here I just prefer face ID because it works in every single situation I know the pixel has 3D Face Unlock and it's secure enough to unlock banking apps now but if you're not in a bright room then it doesn't work as well as face ID but the pixel does have that ultrasonic fingerprint reader which was new this year and I've got to say using that I would say nine times out of 10 maybe 9.5 times out of 10 it works every single time and is nice and quick I just find face ID on the iPhone a little bit more convenient and something else when using these phones every day is just the software and I've used the iPhone a fair bit over the past couple of weeks and iOS 18 this year just doesn't seem as refined as previous years I kind of feel like they've said yes to a lot that they wouldn't have said yes to in previous years and that's how we've ended up with these colored icons and tinted icons which I just don't think look very good pixel on the other hand does its version of tinted icons really well and I feel it's just a little bit more more mature and I feel like it's what iOS 18 really wanted to be but it couldn't just quite get there with the pixel 9 I feel like it's a big update this year and this is mostly down to that refresh design but I do feel overall this looks just a little bit better than the iPhone the iPhone does outperform the pixel on Raw benchmarks but you can see from things like the camera comparisons and just how it worked every day in terms of battery and the software experience that benchmarked really on everything when it comes to using that phone daily the iPhone right now is the same iPhone that we've seen for the last few years with the added camera control but it doesn't excite me the same way that it does using the Google pixel 99 maybe the iPhone will feel more fresh and renewed in 6 months time when we finally get that entire roll out of apple intelligence but right now for me the Google pixel 9 just overall is a better choice but let me know what you think in the comments I know what Android Authority but objectively do you think that the iPhone has done enough to beat the pixel 9 this year before you head off make sure you subscribe to the Android authority YouTube channel and if you do that then I will see you in the next videoso this is the Google pixel 9 and this is the iPhone 16 and they're both the entry level phone from both Google and apple but which one is the right pick for you well apple offers you two versions you have the regular for $799 and then you have the Plus for $100 more at $899 and sadly Google only give you the one choice here at $799 so in terms of pricing they're both on par and no matter which one of these phones you pick up the storage option you going to get is just 128 gigs I do like that Apple give you that choice between a regular and a plus size and I wish this is something that Google would adopt with their vanilla pixel 9 the pixel will give you a fair few years of updates with Google promising seven years of them so if you pick this up now then you know in 7 years time that you're still going to be getting Android updates and apple never tell you exactly how long they'll support iPhones 4 but the iPhone 10s is still getting support for iOS 18 and that is almost 7 years old so in terms of updates it looks like that both Google and apple are pretty much on par with this now I'll tell you the benchmarks of each of these phones and the iPhone 16 does beat the pixel 9 in almost every single way but for me benchmarks don't exactly tell you the full story of what it's like to use a phone yes the iPhone beats the pixel 9 in single and multicore here but every single day in use that doesn't really relate to much I do want to touch on the design of both of these phones from Google and apple and I have to mention one thing here that I cannot believe that Apple still get away with and that is putting a 60 HZ display in this phone I just don't understand why it's still happening and I know we hear loads about regular people don't need 120 HZ but also regular people didn't need an ultrawide lens and regular people didn't need AI but now we have it we wouldn't go back and it makes it feel like you're getting more for your money and 60 HZ here is something that I just don't think you should be getting when you're spending $700 or $899 on a brand new phone in 20124 apple really needs to up this Google Lo does beat Apple in this respect because if you pick up the regular pixel 9 you will get 120 htz so putting these side by side there is just no competition here now in terms of the display size on the regular iPhone 16 you get 6.1 in and on the plus you get 6.7 in where as Google like mentioned only give you one size and it kind of fits in between here because you get 6.3 in on the pixel 9 and on these displays I should mention that Apple do not give the iPhone 16 an always on display it saves that for its Pro phones whereas on the Google pixel 99 you do get that always on display so I do think Google here is just winning if you're interested in some Peak brightness numbers then the iPhone is slightly dimmer at 2,000 nits and that pixel 9 goes up to 2 2,700 nits and I can't say this has been massively noticeable when indoors outside you can tell that the pixel9 is ever so slightly brighter but I wouldn't say it is Miles Ahead now in terms of the rest of the design the actual feel in the hand of these phones is really similar because they're both rounded and Google did that new redesign this year for that pixel 9 and if you're not really looking and you pick up one of these phones you can't tell exactly which one you've picked up the pixel 9 has this really nice matte finish on the side rails and the iPhone 16 has something very similar and it's more of the same when you turn these phones around you'll find that matte finish on the iPhone and that less premium glossy finish on the pixel and as a side note I've got to mention the colors on this year's iPhone 16s because Apple has absolutely knocked it out the park with these that ultramarine is one of my favorite colors I've seen in a long time and not even far behind is that teal colors I wish Google would put some more exciting colors on their phones this year so in terms of the colors I think the iPhone absolutely take this I should mention very quickly the camera design here as well because they've both changed the designs this year the pixel has its two camera visor on the back whil the iPhone has reverted back to something we saw way back on the iPhone 11 pretty much having the cameras stack above each other and I know that the iPhone changed the camera design for its spatial video but I just think that the pixels camera housing is more bold and more out there and it just looks a little bit more modern it's cool I really like it the camera housing has a main camera sensor and an ultra wide on both of these and the pixel has a 48 map Ultra wide compared that to the 12 map of the iPhone let's start with the ultra wide and to me it seems like the iPhone wants to boost the shadows in almost every single photo while the pixel looks a bit darker it is a little bit more real to what I was seeing personally I think there's a little bit more detail on the pixel's ultra wide photos compared to the I phones and when it comes to low light on the ultra wide the pixel hands down is the winner here there's more detail on the photos of the pixel whilst the iPhone all look a little bit flat and just a bit dull the pixel does seem to add some processing to brighten up the images ever so slightly but I'd rather have that in these low light shots than have something with darkness and very little detail for the main cameras it is much closer between the two and this time whilst the iPhone does increase the Shadows just a little bit you can see that photos side by side here they do look very similar the details that you can get on these main cameras look absolutely great and for me I think the colors are handled really well by both the iPhone and the pixel I have to say that both of these phones give me that real to life look for low light on these phones the iPhone performance is much better than it did on that Ultra wide lens but for me it is still just a little bit dark for my liking the pixel handles colors just a little bit better and it does give a little bit more detail on the shadows as you do lose a bit of that when you're using the iPhone again just like the ultra wide the pixel does add a bit of processing here to brighten up that image but this is something that I actually really like and it gives you a usable photo and I'll touch on it really quickly here and it's the camera control on the iPhone 16s I find this really difficult to use I don't think it's easy I don't think it's intuitive and if anything it actually makes taking photos a little bit more difficult it's not positioned in the right place and I feel like all I do is accidentally touch this when I'm taking photos which ends up making them actually look a little bit worse so for me it's having good effort Apple but the camera control is really not the one for video they can both do 4K at 60 frames a second and for me I've said this before about the iPhone video and it is just better than the pixel it pains me to say it but it is true while the pixel has caught up a fair bit in the last couple of years on the iPhone it just looks a little bit more cinematic like and it gives you much better stabilization and while the dynamic range is similar it does do a better job on the iPhone 16 let's talk about the AI offerings that both of these phones give you and the pixel really is like overrun with AI whilst at the moment the iPhone really doesn't have anything as it stands the iPhone 16 has no apple intelligence features at all unless you run the iOS 18 beta which I don't think you should really have to do there is no new Siri it's as bad as ever and you just don't have simple features like cleanup it's been advertised as a phone built from the ground up for Apple intelligence but if you put this side by side with any other iPhone running iOS 18 that really isn't a difference on the pixel 9 then you have more AI than you even know what to do with there is Gemini live which is something that Siri could only dream of being you have magic editor you have pixel Studio there is so much to mention that I can't go through all in this video but there really is a gulf between these phones when it comes to Ai and having said that I wouldn't buy one over the other because of its AI features but I just think Apple don't sell me a phone that has no AI features on it at all that I have to wait 6 months to even get a full roll out for so Google in terms of it AI is Miles Ahead here I do want to talk about some Everyday Use cases now with both of these phones and I'm going to talk about battery first the battery on the pixel 9 is 4,700 milliamp hours which beats the regular iPhone 16 and even just squeezes ahead of the iPhone 16 plus and I've mainly used the iPhone 16 plus and the pixel 9 and both of these phones come pretty close with its screen on time so I get around about 7 to 8 hours with each of these and there hasn't been many occasions where I've been dropping Bel below 20% especially on days where I've just been sat at my desk so actually I've been really happy with the battery life that these phones will give you if you do need to top up these phones in a hurry though the pixel 9 will give you 27 WS of wired charging which should get you to about 55% in around 30 minutes and from the times that I've been using it that seems pretty accurate Apple won't tell us exactly what their wied charging speed is but we've measured this to be around about 21 wats the wireless charging speeds though will differ between what method you're using to charge your phone so for example with the pixel 9 if you're using that pixel stand you can get 15 WS of wireless charging but if you just use a standard wireless charger then you're only going to get 12 WS for the iPhone it's a bit quicker at 25 WS if you charge via Mac safe but then it's 15 wats using any G2 wireless charger in terms of using these phones every single day and unlocking them I prefer one method over the other and I'll get a little bit of hate for this and it's not that I'm a fanboy of iPhone here I just prefer face ID because it works in every single situation I know the pixel has 3D Face Unlock and it's secure enough to unlock banking apps now but if you're not in a bright room then it doesn't work as well as face ID but the pixel does have that ultrasonic fingerprint reader which was new this year and I've got to say using that I would say nine times out of 10 maybe 9.5 times out of 10 it works every single time and is nice and quick I just find face ID on the iPhone a little bit more convenient and something else when using these phones every day is just the software and I've used the iPhone a fair bit over the past couple of weeks and iOS 18 this year just doesn't seem as refined as previous years I kind of feel like they've said yes to a lot that they wouldn't have said yes to in previous years and that's how we've ended up with these colored icons and tinted icons which I just don't think look very good pixel on the other hand does its version of tinted icons really well and I feel it's just a little bit more more mature and I feel like it's what iOS 18 really wanted to be but it couldn't just quite get there with the pixel 9 I feel like it's a big update this year and this is mostly down to that refresh design but I do feel overall this looks just a little bit better than the iPhone the iPhone does outperform the pixel on Raw benchmarks but you can see from things like the camera comparisons and just how it worked every day in terms of battery and the software experience that benchmarked really on everything when it comes to using that phone daily the iPhone right now is the same iPhone that we've seen for the last few years with the added camera control but it doesn't excite me the same way that it does using the Google pixel 99 maybe the iPhone will feel more fresh and renewed in 6 months time when we finally get that entire roll out of apple intelligence but right now for me the Google pixel 9 just overall is a better choice but let me know what you think in the comments I know what Android Authority but objectively do you think that the iPhone has done enough to beat the pixel 9 this year before you head off make sure you subscribe to the Android authority YouTube channel and if you do that then I will see you in the next video\n"
