Google Pixel 7 vs Samsung Galaxy S22: Best value for money pick?

Google’s new phones in the Pixel 7 series offer minor improvements rather than radical changes over the previous-generation devices. But they’re still very impressive phones that lock horns with some of the best flagships out there. While the Pro model throws punches at some bigger phones like the Galaxy S22 Ultra, the standard Pixel 7 stands in front of relatively smaller opponents like the Galaxy S22. In this post, we’re going to take a look at the Google Pixel 7 vs Samsung Galaxy S22 comparison to find out how these entry-level flagships compete against each other.

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Google Pixel 7 vs Samsung Galaxy S22: Specifications

Here’s a quick look at the specifications to understand what each of these phones brings to the table:

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Design and display

The Pixel 7 and Galaxy S22 differ greatly in design but there’s no denying that they’re some of the best-looking phones you can buy on the market right now. The Pixel 7 has a very unique design that makes it instantly recognizable from a distance. Its beautiful chassis with a glossy back and matte-finished camera bar makes it stand out from the sea of other smartphones. It’s available to purchase in Obsidian, Snow, and Lemongrass colorways and they all sport a different finish on the camera bar for a fresh dual-tone look.

The Galaxy S22 also looks great thanks to the frosted glass back and the contour-cut design for the camera island. The frosted glass back makes the Galaxy S22 less slippery and less prone to fingerprints but the flat edges around the chassis make it slightly uncomfortable to hold. It’s not necessarily a deal-breaker but something to keep in mind if you’re planning to use it without a case. Unlike the Pixel 7, however, the Galaxy S22 is available to purchase in as many as nine different colors, so you get a lot of options to choose from.

What we like the most about the Samsung Galaxy S22 is how compact it is compared to the Google Pixel 7. The Galaxy S22 measures 146mm in height whereas the Pixel 7 stands 155.6mm tall. The Pixel 7 is also a hair thicker and a couple of millimeters wider than the Galaxy S22. All these numbers add up to make the Galaxy S22 more comfortable to hold for everyday use. It’s also significantly lighter than the Pixel 7, making it a better one-handed phone overall. Both phones carry an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, so we’d say they’re equally durable.

Both Google Pixel 7 and the Galaxy S22 sport flat displays on the front, but the one on the Pixel 7 is slightly bigger. It measures 6.32-inches versus the 6.1-inch panel on the Samsung flagship. They’re both HDR10+ certified OLED panels with high brightness and refresh rate support. The Galaxy S22 supports up to 120Hz refresh rate but the Pixel 7 tops out at 90Hz. You’ll have to pick the more expensive Pixel 7 Pro to get an LTPO display with 120Hz refresh rate support. The Pixel 7’s display supports a slightly higher peak brightness but you’re not going to notice a significant difference even while using both phones side-by-side under direct sunlight.

The Google Pixel 7 and Galaxy S22 both have excellent panels for media consumption, be it for gaming or simply watching a video on YouTube. You’ll also have a hard time telling the difference between 90Hz and 120Hz refresh rates unless you’re using both devices side-by-side. The scrolling speeds and animations on both phones are smoother and on par with each other, so don’t let that affect your purchase decision.

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Internal hardware and cameras

Moving over to the internals, the Pixel 7 ships with Google’s new Tensor G2 chip. It’s just an iterative upgrade over the original Tensor chip, so you can expect the performance of the new Pixel phones to be on par with the previous-gen models. Google’s Tensor chip is known to power machine learning and AI features to enhance the overall user experience of the phone with smart features. That’s true for the Pixel 7 too as the new Tensor chip enables some additional smart features like Photo Unblur, the upcoming ‘Clear Calling’, and more.

The Samsung Galaxy S22, on the other hand, is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip in the US and some other regions while the rest of the world gets an Exynos 2200 SoC. We found the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip to perform better than the Exynos 2200, at least in the case of the bigger Ultra model, but they’re both incredibly powerful and should be enough to push through most tasks without any issues. Both Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Exynos 2200 have a bit of an edge over the Tensor G2 when it comes to raw numbers, so the Galaxy S22 should technically offer better overall performance, at least on paper or in benchmarking apps.

Google’s Tensor chips aren’t designed to compete with the top dogs in the performance department, but it performs admirably to power AI and machine learning features. Both phones top out at 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, so no differences there. The base variants of both Pixel 7 and Galaxy S22 carry 128GB of storage out of the box and there’s no support for expandable storage. Both phones also offer an in-display fingerprint scanner with an optional face unlock feature for authentication.

One area in which you can expect the Pixel 7 to handily beat the Galaxy S22 is the battery life. We say that because the Pixel 7 packs a significantly larger 4,355mAh battery compared to the Galaxy S22’s 3,700mAh unit. As we mentioned in our Galaxy S22 review, the battery life is more of a grey area for this phone and the smaller 3,700mAh battery doesn’t do much to keep the lights on days with heavier usage. Sadly, neither of these phones offer what you would describe as “fast charging” in 2022. The Google Pixel 7’s charging speed tops out at 20W with a compatible charger and it takes about an hour and a half to fully charge.

The Galaxy S22’s 25W charging speed isn’t something to write home about either in this era where companies are working on 150W charging. You do get support for both wireless and reverse wireless charging on both devices, but they’re also painfully slow.

As for the optics, we’re looking at a dual camera setup on the Pixel 7 versus a triple system on the Galaxy S22. Both phones come with a 50MP main shooter and a 12MP ultrawide sensor but only the Galaxy S22 gets the additional 10MP telephoto lens. The lack of a dedicated telephoto lens means you’ll have to rely solely on digital zoom, which, according to Google, is essentially just a lossless crop of the shot captured using the main sensor. The Pixel 7 also supports some other neat camera tricks including the ‘Super Res Zoom’ feature with which you can reach up to 8x and still get some decent-looking shots. The selfies on the Pixel 7 are handled by a 10.8 MP selfie shooter while the Galaxy S22 take care of them via a 10MP sensor.

Google Pixel 7 camera samples:

Samsung Galaxy S22 camera samples:

Both Google Pixel 7 and Galaxy S22 can record 4K videos at up to 60FPS using the front as well as the rear cameras. The Galaxy S22, however, is also capable of shooting 8K videos at 24fps, if that’s something you are interested in doing. Both phones, as you can tell, offer an excellent set of cameras to capture some great photos and videos. The Samsung Galaxy S22 takes a lead with an additional telephoto lens but we think Google’s Pixel phone earns a lot of brownie points with its fun camera features and shooting modes.

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Software

The Google Pixel 7 comes with Android 13 out of the box while the Galaxy S22 is still on One UI 4 software based on Android 12. Both Google and Samsung are considered to be the best in the business when it comes to software support in the Android space, so you can count on these devices to offer the best software experience. The Pixel phones are always first in line to receive the latest updates while Samsung phones have a better lifespan as the updates continue to arrive for a longer period of time.

Samsung has promised four major OS upgrades along with five years of security updates for the Galaxy S22 series. This means the Galaxy S22 will continue to remain relevant for the next three years until Android 16 comes out. The Pixel 7, on the other hand, will receive three major OS upgrades and four years of security updates, so it will also receive the Android 16 update or equivalent.

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Google Pixel 7 vs Samsung Galaxy S22: Which one should you buy?

Google’s Pixel 7 starts at $599 in the US whereas the Samsung Galaxy S22 will set you back $799. There’s a lot to like about both phones in this comparison, but the Google Pixel 7 — despite its shortcomings — offers the most value for your money. It’s hard to argue against the $599 price tag for everything the Pixel 7 brings to the table. Not only do you get one of the best-looking phones, but you also get an excellent set of cameras to capture photos and videos. The Pixel 7 also compensates for the lack of a telephoto lens with some new and impressive camera features. Sure, Google’s new Tensor G2 chip isn’t as powerful as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or the Exynos 2200 powering the Galaxy S22, but it’s plenty to offer reliable performance for all day-to-day tasks.

That’s not to say the Samsung Galaxy S22 is a bad phone though. We would still recommend it for those who are looking to purchase a compact phone that looks good, has a great set of cameras, and delivers rock-solid performance no matter what you’re doing. It just happens to fall short in this particular comparison going against the Pixel 7. Even with the best deals, we think the Galaxy S22’s $799 price tag is a bit hard to justify compared to the relatively affordable Pixel 7.

If you’ve made up your mind about buying the Pixel 7, then be sure to stop by our collection of the best Pixel 7 deals to save some money on your purchase. There are plenty of excellent deals on the Pixel 7 right now that can save you enough money to splurge on one of the best cases or the best accessories for it.

So which smartphone are you planning to buy? Let us know by dropping a line in the comments below.

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