Samsung Galaxy S26 / Google Pixel 9 Pro XL

Samsung varies the processor by market: the US, China and Japan versions use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy. This entry covers the Exynos 2600 SM-S942B version.

The viewable area is smaller than the rectangular measurement because of the corners and camera hole.

LTPO lets the panel drop as low as 1 Hz with static content to save battery and rise to 120 Hz when scrolling; Google notes 120 Hz is not available in every app. The 2000-nit HDR figure is measured with the whole screen lit, the 3000-nit peak with 5% of the screen lit.

The panel lowers its rate to match the content, slowing down on static images to save power and rising to 120 Hz for scrolling and games.

This is Samsung's peak figure, not a brightness held across the full screen.

Samsung says this GPU supports hardware ray tracing and is up to 50% faster at it than its predecessor.

Samsung states up to 29% better heat dissipation for the S26; this is a figure from the maker's own testing.

Usable space is lower than the total because of preloaded software. Options vary by country and carrier.

The 2x optical-quality zoom uses the centre of the main camera's Adaptive Pixel sensor; it is not a separate lens.

Video Boost processes footage on Google’s cloud servers to improve night and 8K recordings, so the processed result is not instant and needs an internet connection.

Samsung quotes up to 30 hours of video playback; the typical figure was measured by a third-party lab to IEC 61960.

The figure was measured from 0% with a 25 W Samsung adapter and 3 A USB-C cable, screen off. The adapter and cable are sold separately.

PowerShare works only with certain Qi-compatible phones and wearables and may not work below 30% battery.

Wi-Fi 7 speeds need a Wi-Fi 7 router; 6 GHz use varies by country.

USB 3.2 Gen 1 carries up to 5 Gbit/s of data, which speeds up wired transfers of large video files to a computer.

Band support varies by market.

Dual-band satellite positioning helps reduce errors from signals reflected between tall buildings.

Weight may vary by country and configuration.

Water and dust resistance can decline over time with normal wear.

IP68 is the dust and water resistance class under IEC 60529; Google notes the protection is not permanent and can weaken with wear, repair or damage.

Titan M2 is a security chip that handles sensitive operations such as passcode and lock-screen verification separately from the main processor.

Storage is chosen at purchase and cannot be expanded; there is no memory card slot.

Google lists 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 5x and 10x as optical-quality zoom; the range up to 30x is software-assisted digital zoom. The wide and telephoto cameras have optical + electronic stabilisation, and there is a multi-zone laser autofocus sensor.

No charger is included; the box has a USB 2.0 USB-C cable. Google notes Battery Share noticeably reduces the phone’s own battery life.

Wi-Fi 7 gives higher speed and lower latency on the 6 GHz band with a compatible router; the Indian version supports only Wi-Fi 6 (2.4/5 GHz). The USB-C port runs at USB 3.2 speed, but the bundled cable is USB 2.0.

Satellite SOS is offered only in the US and is free for the first two years; Car Crash Detection is not available in every country or language.