In today's video, I will do a battery comparison between the Pixel 9 Pro XL and the S25 Ultra on cellular data to see if there is any improvement after multiple software updates. Currently, both are running April's security patch. Plus, my experience with the battery life of the S25 Ultra wasn't great when I first got the device. I was getting an average of 5.5 hours of screen on time as shown in my first review, but back then the phone was running December update. So, let's see if things changed over time. First, let me show you how the test will take place. I will be using similar data on both, but unfortunately 5G stopped working on my 9 Pro XL for some reason. So, I will set the S25 Ultra to 4G to match the Pixel. The displays are set to their maximum resolutions. The 120 Hz refresh rate is activated. Both are set to light theme and the battery saving mode is deactivated to avoid any inconsistencies.
And finally, the screen brightness is calibrated on the same light meter. Now, let's begin the test and initial temperature of each device from left to right are 28.4 and 27.3° C. I will start the test by playing the same YouTube video for 1 hour and set both to the same 2160p resolution. It's also worth noting that the S25 Ultra didn't allow me to zoom to fill while the ambient mode wasn't working on the 9 Pro XL. So, I kept both videos at the default size and turned off the ambient mode on the S25 Ultra to match the Pixel. So, let's see what's going to happen after 1 hour. In the first round, the S25 Ultra consumed 8% versus 9% on the 9 Pro XL. And the Galaxy was a tiny bit cooler at 34.3° versus 34.8. 8. So overall in this comparison, the S25 Ultra did slightly better in the battery consumption and temperature, but the Pixel is very close.
The second hour will be a Facebook scrolling. And here I will use a third party app to do the scrolling for me. So let's see which one will do it better. But while waiting for the second round to finish, let me tell you about the latest offers on the S25 Ultra and the Tab S10 FE on Samsung's website. You can get $120 discount on the 512GB S25 Ultra, up to $350 on the Tab S10 FE with the tradein deals, and $150 on the Tab S10 Ultra. You can use my affiliate links in the description below if you are interested. And now, let's get back to the video. After one full hour of Facebook scrolling, the 9 Pro XL didn't only close the 1% gap of the YouTube test, but it's ahead by 1%, consuming only 12% battery. In contrast, the S25 Ultra consumed 14% to be at 78% battery. Not only this, but the S25 Ultra was 4.5° hotter than the 9 Pro XL, which is totally unexpected. Now, let's begin the third hour, which includes an Instagram scrolling. So, let's see if the trend will continue or the S25 Ultra will make a comeback. After 1 hour of Instagram scrolling, the 1% gap remained the same in favor of the 9 Pro XL to be at 66% versus 65 on the S25 Ultra, and the Pixel remained cooler as well with 2° less than the Galaxy.
So, it seems like the Pixel does better in social media apps. Moving to the fourth hour, which includes WhatsApp chatting, it will be classified into three sections. 30 minutes of texting, and as you see, I used a third-party app to do the texting for me, which is fun to watch. 15 minutes of voice messaging, and 15 minutes of sending backtoback videos using the front camera. After 1 hour of doing so, the S25 Ultra went down from 65 to 53%, which is 12% of usage, while the Pixel did slightly worse, this time consuming 13%, but both are at the same 53% battery. In contrast, the Pixel is still leading the thermal management with 1.4° 4° less temperature. The fifth hour is Google Maps navigation. And here I will use a third party app to keep scrolling the map while having the navigation active. By the way, if you like any of the wallpapers you see in this video, check out the channel's wallpaper app that you will find its Google Play Store download link in the description.
I add 12 new exclusive wallpapers every week. And this is the latest batch. Back to the test. And after 1 hour of navigation, the S25 Ultra consumed 12% to be at 41. While the Pixel consumed 14% to end the 1 hour with 39% battery, but for the third time, the Pixel is still leading the thermal management with 2.8° less heat. So, it seems like Google did work really well on this area. Next, we have a 1 hour of gaming. And I will be using Temper Run to keep it looping for the whole 60 minutes. This time, both consumed the exact 10% battery. So, the same 2% gap remains the same in favor of the S25 Ultra. And the thermal management still goes to the Pixel, but with a smaller gap of 0.7 degrees. Moving to the 7th hour, I will do a Microsoft Teams meeting using the front camera. Usually, Pixel phones struggle with video calls. So, let's see if it remains the same. And yes, it's the same. The 9 Pro XL consumed a lot more battery this time. It went down from 29 to 4%, which is 25% of usage. In contrast, the S25 Ultra consumed only 19% to be at 12% battery.
That shows the biggest weakness of Tensor G4. Plus, it generated more heat, reaching 48.8° versus 45.3 on Samsung's side. So, because of this team's meeting, the gap expanded from 2% to 8%. Now, let's see how much screen on time I will be able to get from the Pixel before it dies by repeating the sequence and play the same 2160p video I started with. And it didn't take long. After 7 minutes and 34 seconds of playback, the 9 Pro XL switched off while the S25 Ultra still have 11% remaining. So, let's see how far it can go. The S25 Ultra was able to finish one more hour of video playback with 1% battery left. And 40 seconds later, it turned off to reach a total of 8 hours of screen on time versus 7 hours and 7 minutes for the 9 Pro XL. And here's what I've learned from this video. First, the S25 Ultra battery improved significantly after multiple software updates. When I first got the device, I was only getting between 5.5 to 6 hours of screen on time on Wi-Fi and cellular data combined. So, being able to get 8 hours on cellular data only is impressive.
Secondly, the 9 Pro XL improved quite a lot when it comes to thermal management. Most of the time, it was running cooler than the S25 Ultra with the exception to video calling that can easily kill the 9 Pro XL battery and generate more heat. So, I hope to see Google addressing this specific issue with future software updates. Third, when you look at the numbers, you will see that the chipset efficiency differs from app to app. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is more efficient in video playback, navigation, and the camera related tasks like Microsoft Teams and using the camera in WhatsApp, while Tensor G4 is better in browsing social media apps with no differences spotted in gaming. And lastly, we need to keep in mind that the 9 Pro XL is 6 months older than the S25 Ultra and is still performing really well.
So, that was my battery comparison between the S25 Ultra and the Pixel 9 Pro XL. Please let me know in the comments what do you think. But for now, thanks so much for watching and see you in the next.
