Google Pixel 6 Pro review: The best flagship phone value
Our Verdict
Google has once once again reclaimed its Android photography crown and goes head-to-head with Apple'southward best. The Pixel half-dozen Pro is a powerful and capable telephone and Tensor, while somewhat moderate in benchmarks, has some seriously excellent applications.
For
- Incredible cameras
- Tensor performs well
- Beautiful new design
- More affordable than other flagships
Confronting
- Shorter bombardment life than competitors
- Finicky in-display fingerprint reader
Tom'south Guide Verdict
Google has once again reclaimed its Android photography crown and goes head-to-head with Apple's best. The Pixel 6 Pro is a powerful and capable phone and Tensor, while somewhat moderate in benchmarks, has some seriously excellent applications.
Pros
- +
Incredible cameras
- +
Tensor performs well
- +
Beautiful new design
- +
More affordable than other flagships
Cons
- -
Shorter battery life than competitors
- -
Finicky in-brandish fingerprint reader
Pixel 6 Pro: Specs
Price: Starting at $899
Android version: 12
Display: 6.71-inch OLED (3120 x 1440)
Refresh charge per unit: 10-120Hz
CPU: Tensor
RAM: 12GB
Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
Rear cameras: 50MP (f/ane.85) master, 12MP (f/two.two) ultrawide, 48MP (f/3.v) telephoto with 4x optical zoom
Front photographic camera: 11MP (f/2.2)
Video: Upwardly to 4K 60 fps (HDRnet)
Battery: five,000 mAh
Battery life (hrs:min): vii:49 (Adaptive) / vii:55 (60Hz)
Charging: 23W wired (charger not included), 23W wireless (Pixel Stand), 12W Qi
Size: half dozen.5 x 3.0 x 0.four inches
Weight: 7.4 ounces
Colors: Stormy Black, Cloudy White, Sorta Sunny
The Pixel half dozen Pro is here and it represents a serious step forward for Google. With upgraded cameras, a big 120Hz dynamic brandish, and the all-new Tensor chip, this is a phone that means business. Amend withal, information technology starts at just $899, below other flagship phones that cost $1,000 or more.
Tensor is especially heady, since it offers huge possibilities for computational photography, on-device speech communication recognition and translation, and other bully features. But the Pixel 6 Pro struggles with bombardment life in our testing, clocking in well below other flagship handsets, despite its large five,000 mAh power pack.
If you lot don't need a 120Hz display or telephoto zoom, be certain to check out our Google Pixel 6 review. The smaller phone is more affordable with a starting cost of $599, but it nevertheless has the aforementioned Tensor chip and upgraded chief photographic camera sensor.
But if you lot prefer a larger display and want ane of the best phones for the money period, the Pixel 6 Pro is a winner. As you'll see in this total Pixel 6 Pro review, this flagship deserves to exist considered right alongside the best from Apple and Samsung.
Pixel six Pro review: Price and release date
Google has kept the Pixel 6 Pro'southward cost beneath those of fellow flagship handsets. Starting at $899 for the 128GB model, the Pixel 6 Pro packs in a lot of hardware value on top of Google'south excellent software pattern and back up. In fact, we think pricing is one of the key areas where the Google Pixels beat the iPhone and Galaxy in 2021.
Appear October xix, the Pixel vi Pro are bachelor every bit of October 28. Y'all tin grab yours from the Google Store or Google Fi, plus AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Xfinity Mobile. Beware that some of the carrier prices come out higher than Google's MSRP, which appears to be related to 5G capabilities (some Pixel 6 SKUs don't have mmWave 5G, for example).
With the Pixel 6 Pro comes the optional Pixel Pass, which starts at $45 per month. This all-in-1 program gives you lot a Pixel upgrade every two years, device protection, a 200GB Google One deject subscription, YouTube Premium (including YouTube Music Premium), and Google Play Pass. On paper, it'due south quite the bargain.
Check out the best Google Pixel 6 deals right now to go the best discounts. The phones are proving to be very difficult to go a concur due to loftier demand, but we have a breakup on where to purchase the Pixel half-dozen Pro.
If y'all decide to pick up the Pixel half dozen Pro, be sure to protect information technology with i of the best Google Pixel 6 Pro cases. Our Pixel 6 starter guide can help you setup the phone and explore its many features.
Pixel 6 Pro review: Design
The biggest thing about the Pixel half dozen Pro at first glance is the fresh, new design. Gone is the spartan, function-over-form Pixel language that nosotros've had since 2016. The Pixel six Pro is a beautiful device with a curved brandish, a glass back with three squeamish colour options, and the camera bar that spans the width of the phone.
I'm of two minds about the camera bar. On the 1 hand, I like seeing Google try something new and unique in a sea of glass and metallic slabs. On the other, I think it makes the Pixel 6 Pro look rather strange, for a lack of a ameliorate word. Information technology feels awkward to me, especially since the whole thing juts out from the phone.
Overall, I actually like the Pixel 6 Pro's feel and build quality. Information technology's solid and has a nice heft without being besides heavy. The phone is overall narrower than the iPhone 13 Pro Max I've been using. While the six.7-inch display is still likewise big to employ one-handed, I think the Pixel half-dozen Pro is more comfortable to hold than Apple tree's latest large phone. The curved dorsum helps, too, versus Apple's squared off edges.
Ane thing I dislike nearly the hardware is the fingerprint sensor, and my colleague Roland Moore-Coyler agrees with me. No longer located on the back of the telephone (which is where I prefer it to be), the Pixel 6 Pro sports an in-display fingerprint reader. Like the Galaxy S21 or OnePlus nine Pro, it's fine, but I've noticed that it's slower than the competition and it's very picky nigh where you place your finger. Whereas I think the OnePlus nine Pro or Milky way S21 are more than forgiving, the Pixel 6 Pro seems to have a smaller reader area. Google is reportedly working on a set up for the Pixel half-dozen range's fingerprint issues, so nosotros'll see if that improves matters. Nosotros may too see Face Unlock, a rumored feature for the Pixel half-dozen series, get in later on via an update, for an alternative to fingerprint scanning.
Pixel 6 Pro review: Display
The Pixel 6 Pro's brandish holds well against others for colour saturation and color accuracy, merely it falls behind on effulgence. It features a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate, meaning it can become all the style down to 10Hz to save on bombardment, but ramp up to 120Hz for content where it makes sense.
Here's how the Pixel 6 Pro compares to its Milky way S21 Ultra and iPhone 13 Pro Max rivals.
| Pixel 6 Pro | iPhone thirteen Pro Max | Galaxy S21 Ultra | |
| sRGB (%) | 104 | 110 | 111 |
| DCI-P3 (%) | 74 | 77 | 82 |
| Delta-E | 0.3 | 0.21 | 0.35 |
| Peak brightness (nits) | 842 | 1038 | 821 |
| Max with adaptive brightness disabled (nits) | 495 | 837 | 380 |
As yous tin see, the Pixel 6 Pro holds up very well in comparing to the iPhone 13 Pro Max and Galaxy S21 Ultra, fifty-fifty getting brighter than the latter. All three phones are pretty equal when it comes to color saturation, even if the iPhone 13 Pro Max has quite a lead on the Delta-E color accuracy score (where 0 is perfect).
Where I remember the Pixel half-dozen Pro's display falters a bit is on brightness. While it can get decently bright exterior, it's not well-nigh as visible equally the iPhone xiii Pro Max's ludicrously bright screen. Inside, the iPhone once once again inches ahead with a college peak brightness with adaptive brightness disabled. The Pixel 6 Pro doesn't struggle outdoors as much as previous Pixels accept, but it's still a means off from the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
In practise, the brandish is excellent for playing games like Genshin Affect or the grim Back iv Blood or The Rising on Xbox Game Pass. Watching movies and videos is also a dandy experience, with enough saturation to make scenes similar the harsh orangish tones in Blade Runner 2049 absolutely pop. This is certainly the best display I've e'er seen on a Pixel. Even though the Pixel 5's or Pixel 5a's screens weren't bad, the Pixel 6 Pro is certainly leaps and bounds amend. The Pixel 6 also benefits from especially optimized games which make utilize of its Game Dashboard feature to let you prioritize battery efficiency or graphical output.
Pixel 6 Pro review: Cameras
At present we've come up to the thing that defines a Pixel: the cameras. Google pioneered what was possible with computational photography and although other phone makers take since caught up, Pixels regularly characteristic on our list of the best camera phones. This twelvemonth, the Pixel half dozen Pro ups the ante.
Google upgraded the hardware to complement the improved software algorithms and Tensor strengths. The main sensor is at present 50MP, letting in 150% more than light according to Google. The 12MP ultrawide camera has a 114-degree field of view and the 48MP telephoto sports a 4x optical zoom thanks to its folded optics. Overall, the Pixel 6 Pro tin can go up to a 20x digital zoom, with the AI-powered Super Res Zoom to assist make clean up the last images.
Among the new AI features powered by the Tensor bit, the highlight is Magic Eraser. This is an incredible feat of engineering, letting you effectively remove unwanted items from the background of your photos. It's obviously not perfect, but the Pixel half dozen Pro volition automatically propose things to remove. Google says it works all-time on beaches and at parks.
Without further ado, here'southward how the Pixel half dozen Pro stacks upward to the likes of the iPhone 13 Pro Max, the electric current king of our all-time camera phones list. (For more on how the two phones compare, read our total Google Pixel vi Pro vs. iPhone 13 Pro Max comparison.)
In this photo of the pumpkins, the differences between the ii photos is slight, but y'all tin can see that the iPhone 13 Pro Max's picture looks a tad more saturated. Y'all can see this in the scarecrow's shirt and background in those blues and reds, plus the red building in the back. The Pixel vi Pro's image about looks washed out in comparison, simply this comes down to differences in post-processing. I personally prefer the iPhone'south movie here.
Heading indoors to this produce stand, the Pixel's shot is brighter and compensates better for the harsh lighting above. The iPhone warmed things up a bit likewise much in response to the cool lighting, and the image is overall dimmer than the Pixel's. I recollect Google's telephone wins here.
In this ultrawide mural shot, the Pixel has a clear advantage when it comes to brightness. The scene looks more well-lit thanks to the sun off to the left. That said, the iPhone captures more of the mural due to its wider field of view. The greenish tones to the water expect a bit better in the Pixel's prototype, but this is, as we've seen thus far, a very shut race.
In these portraits of Marking Spoonauer, both phones took unlike approaches to the final images. The Pixel zoomed out a bit while the iPhone brought things in a little closer to focus on Mark's face. Both phones had to compensate for the direct sunlight on the subject field and both did very well, even if the Pixel compensated better in my opinion. The blur radii are very artistic, also. I think either portrait is great, just I adopt the color tones in the Pixel's image.
This comparison between the two phones' night modes certainly surprised me. Right away, the Pixel's picture show using Night Sight is brighter. The plant on the left is fully visible, as are the pumpkins and flowers in the foreground. The shadows remain deep, only they don't overpower anything else in the photo, different the iPhone's shot. That one is very dark, with the pink flowers on the left almost invisible.
The two selfies are quite different. The Pixel'due south image has softer colors, but sharp focus on my face. It does make my hair wait a fleck darker than it really is. Meanwhile, the iPhone's selfie is brighter, just my confront looks a bit too smooth. The colors look off, though, with an overall yellow-dark-green tinge to the final image — the Pixel's colors are more natural.
For zoom comparisons, we brought out the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Samsung went all out with zoom this year on its best phone. Information technology tin can go all up the fashion up to 100x and features Zoom Lock, which uses AI to assistance keep your photos steady. The Pixel half dozen Pro tops out at 20x, but sports Super Res Zoom. I decided to compare the Pixel's 20x to the Galaxy S21 Ultra's 20x.
Despite the blurred out license plate in the S21 Ultra'due south photo, both images look similar until yous really wait at the groundwork. The Pixel's picture show is a bit cleaner, while Samsung's seems a tad blurry on that regal SUV. Only all of the signage in either prototype is clearly legible, including the chimney sweep and Help Wanted ones. Again, I think the Pixel's image is cleaner than the Galaxy S21 Ultra's, just it's a very shut race. Samsung obviously has the articulate advantage when it comes to max zoom, however.
Motion Mode, which includes Action Pan and Long Exposure, is swell for those long exposure shots to create artistic photos that perfectly limited motion. Action Pan focuses on a moving field of study and blurs the background, while Long Exposure adds blur to moving objects within the scene. You lot can run into the former in a higher place, with Action Pan on and off as this blue SUV drives past.
Similarly, here's Long Exposure on and off. It's a pretty absurd and artistic effect, as you can see in this photograph of a running fountain.
Finally, I included a sample from the Pixel 6 Pro'southward astrophotography manner, grabbing a flick of the beautiful moon, and the ultrawide selfie cam. Both examples are in the gallery to a higher place.
Pixel 6 Pro review: Video
Video has likewise seen a boost thank you to Tensor. You tin can record HDR live in 4K, offering vivid and punchy videos — 4K video is too available on the front-facing camera. Selfie recordings become audio improvements, too, with Oral communication Enhancement. Google says the Pixel half dozen Pro will amend filter out background noise to make your vox come through clearly.
Pixels accept always taken excellent photos, just accept historically struggled with video. That's inverse this year, though I'm non certain information technology's as good as the iPhone 13 Pro Max. At that place's certainly no Cinematic fashion on the Pixel six Pro, merely that isn't really a bad thing.
Pixel 6 Pro review: Operation
Nosotros knew the Pixel vi Pro'southward cameras would be good, but driving that excellence is Tensor, Google Silicon'south start-generation scrap. It's built for AI and motorcar learning (ML) and you can meet that axiomatic in the computational photography. Only it too lends itself to on-device oral communication recognition and translation and other AI-powered features like Live Transcribe and Live Translate.
Google flat out said that benchmarks lone don't tell Tensor's whole story, but we nonetheless have to look to them to draw comparisons to other devices like the Galaxy S21 Ultra and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Here's how the Pixel 6 Pro, with its 12GB of RAM, stacks up to its competition.
| Pixel 6 Pro | iPhone 13 Pro Max | Galaxy S21 Ultra | |
| Geekbench 5 (single / multicore) | 1027 / 2760 | 1720 / 4549 | 1123 / 3440 |
| Geekbench ML TensorFlow Lite (CPU / GPU / NPU) | 300 / 1376 / 1745 | 915 / 1587 / 2663 | Not tested |
| Adobe Premiere Rush (Mins:Secs) | 0:48 | 0:25 | 1:03 |
| 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited (Score / FPS) | 6682 / 40 | eleven,418 / 68 | 5739 / 34 |
| 3DMark Wild Life Farthermost (Score / FPS) | 1832 / 11 | 3075 / 18 | Non tested |
Overall, for a first-generation production, Tensor doesn't practice too bad. Apple's A15 Bionic is all the same conspicuously superior and Google Silicon has a long mode to get to catch up. Just in most of the higher up tests, Tensor holds its own confronting the Snapdragon 888 (and its Adreno 660 GPU) in the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Of course, yous tin see that Tensor performed the Adobe Premiere Rush test — where a phone transcodes a 4K video to 1080p — faster than the Milky way S21 Ultra. It'due south still slower than the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but it's certainly one of the best Android phones in this item test. And surprisingly enough, the Pixel 6 Pro outperformed the Galaxy S21 Ultra in the 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited gaming benchmark, netting six more frames per second than Samsung'due south telephone.
Nosotros started running the Geekbench ML TensorFlow Light tests later the S21 Ultra came out, but Tensor is pretty neck and cervix with other Snapdragon 888 devices that have gone through those tests. For a fleck designed specifically for AI/ML, I expected to see Tensor pace really far ahead of the Snapdragon 888 or keep upwardly with the A15 Bionic. That said, no one expected this first go to exist perfect.
Every bit for 5G, the Pixel 6 Pro uses an older Samsung 5123 modem. This slice of hardware is more equivalent to the Qualcomm X55 modem from 2020 that nosotros saw in the Galaxy S20 and iPhone 12 models. Granted, few US carriers take full advantage of the new X60 modem, only there are efficiency gains over the X55 and Samsung 5123. In practice, this leads to 5G on the Pixel half-dozen Pro (and the Pixel 6) draining more battery than information technology probably ought to.
To see how the Pixel 6 Pro stacks upwardly with other phones, see our dedicated Pixel vi benchmarks page.
Pixel 6 Pro review: Battery life and charging
The Pixel half dozen Pro packs the biggest bombardment we've ever seen in a Pixel, clocking in at a huge v,000 mAh. That's the aforementioned size equally the Galaxy S21 Ultra and 500 mAh bigger than the OnePlus nine Pro. We don't know the verbal size of the iPhone 13 Pro Max'south battery in milliamp-hours, simply you can't draw direct comparisons between Android and iPhone batteries anyway.
We practice know that all of the three to a higher place-mentioned phones final longer than ten hours in the Tom's Guide battery life test. This is where we set a telephone to 150 nits of brightness and task it to endlessly reload spider web pages on a cellular connection until it kicks the bucket.
Here'due south how the Pixel 6 Pro fared against the iPhone 13 Pro Max and Galaxy S21 Ultra.
| Pixel half dozen Pro (Adaptive / 60Hz) | iPhone xiii Pro Max | Milky way S21 Ultra (Adaptive / 60Hz) | |
| Battery life (Hrs:Mins) | vii:49 / 7:55 | 12:16 | ten:07 / 11:25 |
| Recharge percentage (fifteen mins) | 20 | nineteen | 31 |
| Recharge per centum (thirty mins) | 40 | 40 | 56 |
I am, in a word, flabbergasted. The Pixel 6 Pro's incredibly poor battery life result gives me significant pause. A phone with a 5,000 mAh battery should not provide something this bad. Fifty-fifty considering that Tensor is a first-generation production (with an older 5G modem), I expected far, far ameliorate.
To see how the Pixel 6 Pro compares with other flagship phones on endurance, see our Pixel 6 battery life results folio.
Anecdotally, I don't remember the Pixel half dozen Pro'southward battery life is that bad. I took the phone out to the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. for a total solar day of photography and navigating public transit, then spent the evening getting production photos and playing some Xbox Game Pass at 100% brightness. I concluded the day in the 35% bombardment range, which isn't awful considering how hard I pushed the phone. In the time since, I've regularly finished the 24-hour interval with more than enough life left to go on the battery anxiety away.
The Pixel 6 Pro was expected to get a charging upgrade over previous Pixels. Before, Google limited things to 18W, which was but way too slow. While information technology was suggested that the Pixel 6 Pro would offering 30W speeds, afforded by a new charging brick, information technology was later on discovered this isn't the example.
Google has publicly admitted that the Pixel half dozen Pro has a maximum power draw of 23W, which is merely a small upgrade over the Pixel 5. It's also the same speeds you lot'd get from the new Pixel Stand up. However it'due south significantly more than than the 12W speeds y'all can become from a standard Qi charger.
Honestly it's not a great look, and Google should have known better.
Pixel six Pro review: Software and special features
The Pixel half dozen Pro debuts with Android 12, which arrived for other supported Pixels on October 19. Although you get the same OS-level features on whatever Pixel from the Pixel 3/3 XL and higher up, the Pixel 6 Pro is where Android 12 shines, especially with the new Material You lot design language and theming arrangement.
Rumors leading up to the Pixel vi Pro suggested that nosotros'd see longer support with the Pixel 6 serial. While that'due south true in some respect — the phone will receive 5 years of security patches — Google has simply committed to iii years of Android updates at fourth dimension of writing. Considering that the company now owns the silicon powering the Pixel 6 Pro, I observe this to be in really bad taste. I expected platform updates rivaling that of Apple.
A full Android 12 review is outside the scope of this Pixel 6 Pro review. Withal, in that location are several Pixel 6-specific features that Google highlighted in its keynote. The company is touting the security and privacy aspects of the Pixel 6 Pro, with many of those powered by Tensor and its security core, which includes the new Titan M2 security chip.
Google Banana is getting a lot smarter and more helpful with the Pixel 6 Pro. For example, when yous're voice typing, y'all can insert emojis using your voice and event commands similar "Clear," "Terminate," and "Send." I've never been big on voice texting, but the accurateness and convenience on the Pixel 6 Pro is unmatched right now. You might even consider me a convert.
The Alive Translate feature lets y'all just point the camera at a sign in a foreign language and see it translated. Or you tin tell Banana to exist your interpreter and it will interpret what's said in real time. Google showed this off in an interview with Marie Kondo.
Google continues to lead the way on making phone calls more convenient. Not just is Call Screen still here — where yous can make callers denote themselves earlier y'all pick up the phone — but you tin now get wait time estimates and call carte transcriptions for those pesky options when you dial a business. Banana is the perfect phone call companion at present.
Google Assistant on the Pixel 6 Pro likewise supports new quick phrases for things like "Finish" for an alarm or timer and "Decline" when getting incoming calls. And At a Glance can prove you things on the habitation screen when you demand it, such as your plane ticket, appointments, commute times and more.
Pixel 6 Pro review: Problems and updates
As yous've simply read, I really like the Pixel 6 Pro. It'southward a dandy phone that does a lot of things correct, merely it's however a Google device. That means that there are quality control issues. Pixel fans tend to be some of the nearly vocal Android users, so the level of reports might be skewed due to how often those people participate in discussion forums like Reddit.
That said, the Pixel 6 problems certainly deserve annotation and you can read about what we know so far. The latest upshot impacts the power of some Pixel vi users in Europe to connect to cellular networks; Google says it'due south investigating the problem. It wouldn't be a Google telephone launch without a host of bug, so at least things stay consistent this year.
Another consistency, admitting a much more than positive one, is Google's addition of extra features to its Pixel phones after launch. These "feature drops" add together more than just the basic Android updates exercise, and come up around 4 times a year. However we've already had some updates outside of that to introduce a new Adaptive Sound setting for the phone'south speakers and the reintroduction of the Google Fit app'southward heart and breathing charge per unit tracking seen on the last generation of Pixels.
Pixel 6 Pro review: Verdict
With an incredible camera array and the promise that Tensor provides, the Pixel 6 Pro is certainly a practiced choice for Android enthusiasts. It has enough power for any task and it is a wonderful photographic camera phone. The best part is the price. At $899, the Pixel 6 Pro is more than affordable than the iPhone xiii Pro Max and Galaxy S21 Ultra and simply equally capable in most areas.
In fact, the Pixel vi Pro is compelling enough to convince me to switch back to Android from the iPhone thirteen Pro Max I've been using. I similar the curved brandish, I dearest the cameras, and all of the user-friendly Pixel features that I've come to adore over the years have gotten fifty-fifty better — Call Screen alone is enough for me to recommend a Pixel to anyone.
From my ain experience with the phone, I can hands recommend the Pixel half-dozen Pro to anyone who'southward looking for the best Android photographic camera experience. Platform-agnostics may still want to wait at the iPhone 13 Pro or iPhone 13 Pro Max, both of which are more than powerful than the Pixel vi Pro. But when push comes to shove, Google's new height-tier telephone offers everything you could want in a handset without breaking the banking company.
All the same undecided? Run into how the Pixel 6 compares to other flagship devices:
- Google Pixel half-dozen Pro vs. OnePlus 9 Pro
- Google Pixel vi Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/google-pixel-6-pro
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