iPhone 15 Pro Max vs. Pixel 8 Pro: Comparing Camera, Battery and Display
Phones
Speaker 1: The iPhone 15 Pro Max versus the Pixel eight Pro two high-end phones with high-end price tags and plenty of top-notch specs. But how do they compare and what should you spend your harder money on? Let's break it down. First, let's talk about what you can get on the Pixel eight Pro that you
Speaker 2: Can't
Speaker 1: Get on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and that is all those really cool AI features in photos and videos. The coolest in my opinion, is Magic Editor, which basically lets you create your ideal [00:00:30] photo right from your phone's gallery. You can erase people from the background, move them around, change the weather, basically create whatever reality you want, which raises some ethical concerns, but the fact remains, it's a really cool technology. There's also Audio Magic Eraser, which lets you edit out distracting background sounds from your videos.
Speaker 2: So I'm in this noisy hotel lobby,
Speaker 1: But it's not perfect. I tried it out in one of my videos and it did make my voice a bit muffled, but it's not bad for a first iteration.
Speaker 2: You can use it to block out wind background chatter sound of the wheels [00:01:00] behind me that you probably can't hear as well anymore right now.
Speaker 1: The AI tool that I found to be really cool but also really creepy is Best Take. This will sift through a series of photos you took and let you swap out people's faces so that if someone is blinking in one shot, you can swap it for another where they're looking at the camera. Then you can create one perfect image where everyone looks their best. Welcome to the future. Those are really cool and fun features to have at your fingertips, but I'm just not sure how often I would personally reach for them because what most of us care about is just having [00:01:30] a really great camera. So with that, let's compare the cameras in classic bra fashion. I had to start with some pictures of a teacup first using just a standard shot. Both images are pretty comparable. The pixel depicts slightly richer colors, but there aren't any glaring differences here.
Speaker 1: Portrait mode was a different story. The pixel's portrait mode defaults to 1.5 x zoom versus the iPhone's one x zoom. So I had to make some slight adjustments in terms of where to place my phone. So the images look as identical as possible, [00:02:00] but regardless, the Pixel did a much better job of keeping the entire cup in focus. Meanwhile, you can see the iPhone's portrait mode struggles to keep the back of the cup in focus where those heart, heart-shaped flowers are, but you can adjust the amount of blur through the aperture setting either before or after you take a photo and portrait mode also lets you change the focus after you take a picture, so that helps. Thankfully, using portrait mode on people leads to fewer inconsistencies like this. In fact, both these shots look very similar to one another. [00:02:30] The backgrounds are blurred to the same degree, and my colleague Viva is in perfect focus in the foreground, as is the case with other shots.
Speaker 1: The iPhone's colors are slightly warmer, but both are great photos. I actually have a hard time picking which one I like more because they're honestly both really high quality when it comes to selfies. There's actually a pretty noticeable difference in this selfie taken on. The iPhone colors are also a bit warmer, and that includes my complexion, my scarf, and the wall behind me. But on the pixel colors are lighter and that again includes my skin and the wall behind me and my [00:03:00] scarf is also a bit more muted. This actually didn't come as too much of a surprise to me because I remember when I first switched to iPhone last year, it was a bit of an adjustment for me to see how much darker and a bit more shadowy selfies looked, but you can actually dial in a specific photographic style or customized one to get contrast and colors to look the way you want.
Speaker 1: Both phones come with that five x optical zoom, which I tested on this very interesting looking plant. Zoomed all the way in. Both images show impressive detail, but the reds on the iPhone are slightly more vibrant. As we zoom out, I [00:03:30] noticed the iPhones pictures are a little bit sharper, but the greens on the pixel are also a little bit richer. Night mode was very telling. I took these shots in my dark room using each phone's respective night mode setting, and the iPhone did a much better job of brightening the shot. A video feature I use a lot is cinematic mode just because it makes shots look a lot more dramatic and professional. So I had to compare that feature between these two bones.
Speaker 1: On iPhone shots looked super clear and [00:04:00] the foreground is in crisp focus, but I was a little bit disappointed by this feature. On the pixel, you can see the edges of the pumpkins here are a bit glitchy as the phone tries to figure out what to blur as I'm moving and I didn't run into that problem on the iPhone. The pixel on iPhone both have video stabilization on by default, so the results are pretty comparable there. I took these shots while walking and they're a little shaky, but not bad without a gimbal or stabilizer. Action mode on the iPhone helps you create even smoother shots, but you have to have [00:04:30] enough light for it to work. And the pixel also has a similar mode called active video stabilization, which is more aggressive than the default one overall when it comes to standard photos and videos on these phones, there aren't any huge differences between the two. Like these two shots I took at Salesforce Park look very similar. But when it comes to dialing in special features like cinematic mode or portrait mode, that's where each phone has its strengths.
Speaker 1: [00:05:00] Now let's talk about how each phone feels. The Pixel eight Pro feels slightly lighter than the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but I need to take a moment to shout out the iPhone 15 Pro lineup for feeling significantly lighter than the 14 pro lineup. Thanks to that titanium frame that actually makes a difference. The width of the phones is about the same, but the pixel is slightly longer. There aren't any noticeable differences in thickness, but they both sport those gorgeous massive camera bumps. Thankfully, cases can help to mitigate that. Where I really start to see the difference between [00:05:30] these two phones is in their displays.
Speaker 1: The I iPhone 15 Pro screen has a more vibrant, crisp look to it. Colors really jump out at you while the Pixel eight pros colors by comparison are a bit more muted even when I turn up the brightness, but the display is still impressive and sharp. The differences become most apparent when I'm watching a video on YouTube. For example, videos on the Pixel have a much more gray overtone to them while colors on the iPhone a bit warmer and sharper, and this remains [00:06:00] true even when I turn on true tone on the iPhone and adaptive colors on the pixel. Now, technically the pixel has a brighter display, but what sets the iPhone apart is that much higher contrast ratio, which is why those colors appear more vibrant. The Pixel eight Pro has an in-screen fingerprint sensor to unlock as well as options to either enter a pin or use your face to unlock the iPhone 15. Pro Max carries on Apple's tradition of not offering an in-screen fingerprint sensor and instead relies on just face unlock or a password. [00:06:30] I actually missed the fingerprint sensor when I first switched to iPhone and then I realized it's really not necessary. I mostly just use space unlock. It has been cool to have that back on the pixel, but again, not really something I tend to reach for anyway.
Speaker 1: And finally, one of the most important features for me, battery life. In a very unscientific test, I had both phones play YouTube videos nonstop to see how long they'd last, and both of them impressed me, but one was a clear winner. The iPhone 15 Pro Max lasted around [00:07:00] 22 hours while playing a constant stream of videos, and the Pixel eight Pro lasted about 16 hours. It's worth noting that Apple optimizes its series chips for video playback and the pixel screen has a higher overall brightness, which can use up more of the battery in C Net's battery test. The iPhone 15 Pro Max also came out ahead. What that translates to is that I can use both phones pretty heavily and they should still last me a full day when it comes to charging the iPhone 15. Pro Max reached full charge in about an hour and 50 minutes, and the Pixel [00:07:30] eight Pro was fully charged in around an hour and 20 minutes.
Speaker 1: I used a 30 watt power brick for both the iPhone 15 Pro Max supports up to 27 watt charging while the Pixel eight Pro tops out at 30 watts. So that helps explain why the Pixel was the winner. And the best part is even though I technically use the cables that each phone came with, I could have actually used the same cable for both because iPhones finally support USBC charging. Thank you Apple, for finally making our lives easier with that. And we cannot talk about these phones without also [00:08:00] comparing prices. The iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,200 for 256 gigabytes, and you can get that same storage option on the Pixate Pro for just over a thousand dollars. Both phones also come in one terabyte options if you're willing to throw in a few extra a hundred dollars. The iPhone 15 Pro Max comes in black, white, blue and natural titanium while the Pixelate Pro comes in black, white and blue or Bay as Google calls it.
Speaker 1: And then you have to think about how long these phones will last [00:08:30] you. And I don't mean whether you crack the screen or drop it in water because that's on you, but I mean OSS updates. Google Promises seven years of software updates with the fixed late Pro. Apple doesn't commit to a specific number of years, but right now iOS 17 support goes back five years to the iPhone 10 s, 10 S max, and 10 R. So we've got great cameras, vibrant displays, and stellar battery life on both. So which one would reach for, I'm thoroughly impressed by the Pixel Light Pro's portrait mode and prefer how images like [00:09:00] selfies look brighter and less shadowy. And I am a huge fan of the faster charging. The AI features are super cool, and I love that if there's something I don't like about a photo, I can just easily erase or tweak it.
Speaker 1: But what sells me about the iPhone is the unbeatable all around video quality, especially when it comes to cinematic mode and that longer battery life. The display was also a huge selling point for me. I appreciate how much sharper and more vibrant images and videos look on the iPhones display. And I know you're probably [00:09:30] tired of hearing this if you're an Android user like I once was, but that Apple ecosystem just can't be beat. So pairing really great hardware with great software, it makes me want to reach for the iPhone 15 Pro Max. But honestly, it was really close between these two phones. No matter which one you go for, you're going to have a really high-end experience. It just depends what you're most interested in, whether it's photos, videos, watching, movies, whatever. Which phone would you choose or have you already chosen? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and don't forget to give this video a thumbs up and subscribe for more [00:10:00] on all things mobile. Thanks for watching.
