should you go for the small format or the flagship?

The Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro have many small differences. We’ve listed them here to help you choose between the two.

The eternal debate, should you choose the most equipped smartphone in the range by breaking the bank, or is the slightly cheaper one sufficient? This is what we offer to help you answer in this article which lists the main differences between Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.

Design and screen: bigger, but also fewer concessions

Within the same range of smartphones, phones tend to become larger as the price increases. Pixels are no exception.

Here are the dimensions of the Pixel 8: height 150.5 mm, width 70.8 mm, depth 8.9 mm, 187 g.

And here are the dimensions of the Pixel 8 Pro: height 162.6 mm, width 76.5 mm, depth 8.8 mm, 213 g.

This is explained by the size of the screens in particular, which goes from 6.2 inches on the Pixel 8 to 6.7 inches on the Pixel 8 Pro. Both retain a 20:9 aspect ratio, but there remains another important difference. Both Pixels are 120 Hz, but only the Pixel 8 Pro offers variable refresh.

For the rest of the design, the Pro model offers a satin and matte finish on the back, as well as the protection of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, compared to Victus 1 on the base Pixel.

Photo: logical differences

Photography is the element that often justifies an upgrade. This is also the case for the Pixel 8 Pro.

The two smartphones share the same 50 Mpx main sensor. But the Pixel 8 Pro’s ultra-wide angle differs. It integrates a 48 Mpx sensor which should particularly help in Macro, compared to 12 Mpx on the Pixel 8. We must of course add to this the presence of an X5 telephoto lens with a 48 Mpx sensor on the Pixel 8 Pro. This allows it to achieve a digital zoom of up to X30 compared to X8 for its little brother.

Several small differences are added to this technical sheet:

Pro controls are reserved for the Pro model
High resolution image mode too;
Only the Pro model can encode videos in AV1;
Video Boost and Night Vision mode in video are also reserved for the Pixel 8 Pro.

Performance: same as same, except for storage

In terms of performance, Google has not chosen to differentiate its two phones too much and that is good news. People who prefer smaller smartphones will appreciate it.

There are still a few micro-differences to be aware of:

If the two models offer 128 and 256 GB of storage, only the Pro includes 512 GB and 1 TB configurations;
The Pixel 8 has 8 GB of LPDDR5X RAM, the Pixel 8 Pro increases to 12 GB.

Battery and sensors

In terms of autonomy, the two smartphones are relatively close too. Here are their respective configurations:

Pixel 8: 4,575 mAh, 27W charging;
Pixel 8 Pro: 5,050 mAh, 30W charging.

We often forget them, but our smartphones are full of sensors that allow them to be the Swiss army knives that we know. The Pixel 8 Pro takes the logic a little further than its counterpart by adding a temperature sensor, but also an ultra wide band chip.

The price: it’s rising, but not at the same rate

This is the difference that we immediately think of when choosing and it has widened further with this generation of Pixel. If both smartphones have seen their prices increase somewhat, the Pro model has received the biggest increase. Here are the prices:

The Pixel 8 costs almost 800 euros;
The Pixel 8 Pro costs almost 1100 euros.

We hope that with all the differences listed above, you can effectively decide whether it makes sense to pay that $300 difference to get your hands on the Pro or whether the base Pixel 8 is enough for you.