iPhone 15 or Pixel 8? Here's everything you need to know before you buy

(Image: Google/Apple)

Now that Google has announced the next generation of Pixel smartphones - the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, you maybe reconsidering your shopping plans.

Google pretty much knocked it out of the park with a simple and straightforward announcement, which leaned heavily on the company's AI smarts, making a neat counter-point to Apple's hardware prowess.

You maybe thinking to yourself - which phone should I buy? So, why don't we make it a little simpler for you. Here's all you need to know about the Pixel 8 when compared with Apple's latest flagships.

The iPhone 15 vs Pixel 8

While we are comparing the standard variants of the two phones, it is important to remember that Apple offers four variants for the iPhone 15 - standard, plus, pro and pro max. This already makes it difficult to compare the two.

For the sake of convenience, we have pitted phones with a similar price range together, i.e., the Pixel 8 vs the iPhone 15, and the Pixel 8 Pro vs the iPhone 15 Pro. These phones are in the same ballpark when price is concerned.

Let's start with the iPhone 15, which has a 6.1-inch Super Retina display but misses out on advanced features such as ProMotion. Still, this screen is nothing to scoff at, with a resolution of 2556 x 1179 at a crisp 460 ppi, the display offers 1600 nits of HDR brightness and 2000 nits of peak brightness.

In comparison, the Pixel 8 offers a slightly larger 6.2-inch display but with a lower 2400 x 1080 resolution. It can output 1400 nits of HDR brightness and 2000 nits of peak brightness.

The Pixel 8's screen adapts a dynamic resolution which can switch between 60hz - 120Hz depending on usage. The iPhone 15's screen offers a steady 60Hz refresh rate.

Coming to the chipset, the Pixel 8 uses Google's in-house Tensor G3 chipset that features a 9-core CPU, 7-core GPU and a custom neural engine for AI calculations.

The iPhone 15 uses the A16 Bionic, which despite being older, is still no slouch. The chipset has a 6-core CPU, a 5-core GPU and a faster 16-core neural engine which can do 17 trillion operations per second.

On the software front, we have Android 14 and iOS 17. Both really solid and refined operating systems offering a lot of customization and features.

One thing to note her is Google's announcement of 7 years of software support including OS upgrades for the Pixel 8, which now puts it ahead of Apple in terms of OS updates, which is usually around five or six years.

Coming to the camera, both phones have fairly similar specs. The Pixel 8 uses a dual-camera module with a primary 50-megapixel snapper and a complimentary 12-megapixel ultrawide lens.

The iPhone 15 has a 48-megapixel main camera paired with a 12-megapixel ultrawide. The Pixel 8 has 10.5-megapixel front facing camera, while the iPhone 15 has a 12-megapixel front facing camera.

The Pixel 8 has a 4,575 mAh battery, while the iPhone 15 houses a smaller 3,349 mAh battery. Both phones support wired charging up to 27W, and have wireless charging support, 18W on the Pixel 8, and 15W on the iPhone 15.

The Pixel 8 starts at Rs 75,999 for the base 128GB variant, and offers an additional 256GB variant. The iPhone 15 starts at Rs 79,999 for the base 128GB variant but also offers configurations up to 1TB. The Pixel 8 has 8GB of RAM, while the iPhone 15 has 6GB of RAM.

The Pixel 8 Pro vs the iPhone 15 Pro

With the iPhone 15 Pro, we start getting into the A17 bionic territory, which is Apple's latest silicon. Compared to the Tensor G3, the A17 has 6-core CPU with 19 billion transistors, and slightly faster clock speeds on the high-performance and high-efficiency cores.

This makes the iPhone 15 Pro comparatively faster than the Tensor G3, which is a 9-core CPU but with lower clock speeds on cores. Similarly, while the Tensor G3's 7-core Mali G715 GPU sounds great on paper, Apple's 6-core GPU is fast enough to handle hardware Ray Tracing, which is a first for a smartphone.

If you are looking for a larger screen, the the Pixel 8 Pro's 6.7-inch display is the one to beat with a resolution of 2992 x 1344 and a peak brightness of 2,400 nits.

Comparatively, the iPhone 15 Pro has a much smaller 6.1-inch display with a resolution 2556 x 1179, and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. Both displays offers dynamic refresh rates up to 120Hz.

Another point of contention is battery. The Pixel 8 Pro offers a much larger 5,050 mAh battery. While Apple has not disclosed the battery specs for the iPhone 15 Pro, various reports state that its a 3,274 mAh battery.

On to the cameras, and The Pixel 8 Pro has a triple-camera module with a primary 50-megapixel sensor, 48-megapixel ultra wide sensor, and 48-megpixel telephoto lens.

The iPhone 15 Pro also has a triple-camera module but with a 48-megapixel main camera, secondary 12-megapixel ultrawide and a 12-megapixel telephoto lens.

Coming to the pricing, the Pixel 8 Pro starts at Rs 1,06,999 and offers storage options up to 512GB. The iPhone 15 Pro starts at Rs 1,34,900 and offers storage options up to 1TB.