Google launched its Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro last week. The new smartphones come with a different design compared to the Pixel 6 and offer iterative but noteworthy upgrades. While we have already compared the two most premium flagships from Samsung and Google, in this article, we compare the Galaxy S22 vs. the Pixel 7 and see which mid-tier flagship deserves a place in your pocket.

Technical Specifications

Design

Taking a look at the Pixel 7's design, you'll notice that the new Google smartphone features a similar shell as the last year's Pixel 6. The design, in fact, has been left unchanged and the huge camera visor still runs horizontally across the device’s glass back. There are a few changes this time around, including the camera housing which is made out of metal this time instead of glass. For protection, both the front and back of the device are coated with Gorilla Glass Victus.

Google has also let go of the dual-tone design. The whole of the body (glass part) now features the same colors with the frame and camera bar featuring a contrasting shade. And talking about the colors, the Pixel 7 is available in Obsidian (Black), Snow (White), and Lemongrass (Yellow). The device is 0.2mm thinner compared to its predecessor, but still considerable thicker compared to the Samsung Galaxy S22, which is only 7.6mm thick.

Shifting our attention toward the Samsung Galaxy S22, it carries the same Contour Cut design first introduced with the Galaxy S21. The camera module protrudes from the back and flows over the device's left edge, blending seamlessly with the frame. The back is made out of Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus Plus, which has been given a hazy finish. It's worth noting that both the smartphones, the Google Pixel 7 and the Galaxy S22, come with IP68 dust and water resistance.

One thing that is worth noting here is that the Samsung Galaxy S22 is quite a compact smartphone compared to the Pixel 7. Not only is it narrower and shorter than the Pixel 7, but it also weighs 30 grams less. So, if you're looking for a smartphone that is easier to use with one hand and doesn't feel like a brick in your pocket, the Galaxy S22 seems like a better choice out of the two.

Display

Moving onto the display segment, the Samsung Galaxy S22 features a bright 6.1-inch Dynamic AMOLED display. It boasts full HD+ resolution and support for a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. While the Google Pixel 7 features a bigger 6.3-inch FHD+ display, its refresh rate is limited to 90Hz. And, as mentioned above, the Galaxy S22 offers better display protection in the form of Gorilla Glass Victus Plus.

One area where the Pixel 7 one-ups the Samsung Galaxy S22 is in the peak brightness of the two display panels. The panel of the Google Pixel 7 can go up to 1,400 nits, making it easier to see outdoors, while the Galaxy S22 only offers 1,300 nits of peak brightness. Both the differences, though, are fairly small, and both can provide an excellent job at showing movies, playing games, and providing a large screen real estate to multitask and use your favorite apps.

Performance

Google Pixel 7 is powered by the company's second-generation Tensor G2 chipset. It is a 4nm node process-based chipset with two Cortex-X1 Prime cores clocked at 2.85GHz, two Cortex-A79 cores clocked at 2.35GHz, and four Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. Handling the graphics is a Mali G710 MP07 GPU.

While Tensor G2 features (more or less) the same CPU architecture as its predecessor, it has a better GPU and TPU, making its ML and AI capabilities even more powerful. As a result, Google says image and video processing, calls, security, and speech recognition will be even more helpful and personalized.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 also features a powerful SoC. However, the phone's processor can vary based on where you buy your phone from. Some models of the Galaxy S22 use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, while some use Samsung's own Exynos 2200. Despite a few early reports of overheating and sluggish performance, Samsung has (mostly) fixed all the bugs of the Galaxy S22, and the phone is now on par with other Android flagships in terms of performance.

Taking a look at the storage options, both the Pixel 7 and Galaxy S22 come with up to 256GB of onboard storage with no option for expandable storage. Moreover, both smartphones offer 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM. However, if what you're looking for is fast software updates, then go for the Pixel 7, as Google smartphones get upgrades faster than other Android OEM smartphones.

On the whole, you won't notice much of a difference between the performance of the Pixel 7 and the Samsung Galaxy S22 in day-to-day usage. Both smartphones will be able to handle any task you throw at them with ease.

Camera

Taking a look at the back, the Google Pixel 7 comes with the dual-camera setup as its predecessor. This means you get a 50MP primary camera sensor and a 12MP ultra-wide lens. Yes, the hardware has remained the same as the Pixel 6, but the real upgrades come thanks to the newer Tensor G2 processor.

Google has added features like twice as fast Night Sight processing, motion autofocus, Frame Guide, and improved low-light photography with less noise, thanks to the improved algorithm. The Pixel 7 also comes with a new Real Tone color feature, which now works even in low light, and a beautiful Cinematic Blur effect when recording video.

Finally, it's worth noting that Google has finally added the Face Unlock feature to the Pixel 7, thanks to the new 10.8MP sensor and Tensor G2 chipset. This feature is also available on the Samsung Galaxy S22.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 features a triple camera setup, which includes a 50MP main wide-angle camera, a 10MP telephoto lens, and a 12MP ultra-wide lens. The main 50MP camera of the device comes with features like Dual Pixel autofocus and Optical Image Stabilization. Thanks to the 10MP telephoto lens, the Samsung Galaxy S22 features 3x optical zoom — something that is not available on the Google Pixel 7.

The ultra-wide unit boasts a field of view of 120-degree. The camera of the Samsung Galaxy S22 impressed Jaime Rivera a lot, and you can find more about the camera performance of the Galaxy S22 in our full review right here.

Battery

Last but not least, let's talk about batteries. The Pixel 7 comes with a 4,355 mAh battery. And while the battery is slightly smaller compared to the last year's Pixel 6, it still is considerably bigger than the Samsung Galaxy S22's 3,700 mAh cell. While we're yet to test the Pixel 7, the smartphone should last a day on a single charge. On the other hand, we found the battery experience of the Galaxy S22 to be not that great, and the phone needed to be put on charge at least once during the day.

Both phones come with similar charging speeds (25W on the Galaxy S22 and 30W on the Pixel 7) and can be charged from 0-100% in about an hour. While both phones offer wireless charging, the Pixel 7 emerges as the winner if you use the second-generation Pixel Stand, which provides 23W of power. However, using a Qi wireless charger, the S22 will charge at 15W while the Pixel 7 will charge at 12W.