The OnePlus 13 is now available in the United States, nearly two and a half months after it was released in China. The latest OnePlus phone is the first phone in the series to be equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which will help it run every app and game smoother than ever, especially when combined with a bigger battery, 256GB or 512GB of storage space, and 12GB or 16GB of RAM, depending on which model you get. Then we have the Google Pixel 9 Pro, which is considered the iPhone of Android phones with a matte finish and a flatter screen. These phones are great options if you want one of the best smartphones, to upgrade your Android phone, or to break away from the Apple ecosystem. However, whichever phone you’re going for depends on the urgency of upgrading the one you have right now, the features you’re looking for, and what you can afford.
We’ve already seen how the OnePlus 13 fares against the OnePlus 12 and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Now, here’s how the OnePlus 13 compares to the Google Pixel 9 Pro.
Front: Up to 4K at 60 fps and 1080p at 30/60 fps
The OnePlus 13 looks thinner than most smartphones on the market, which makes it look highly sleek. However, sleek doesn’t always mean smooth, as it comes in three distinct textures usually reserved for phone cases. The black OnePlus 13, dubbed Black Eclipse, has an ebony wood grain that gives it the same wooden aesthetic as some household and office furniture. The blue phone, Midnight Ocean, has a leather back, which might slightly cushion the fall of your phone if you drop it, and the white phone, christened Arctic Dawn, is the only color that has a smooth glass, making it the most fragile. Meanwhile, the Google Pixel 9 Pro comes in four colors — Porcelain, Rose Quartz, Hazel, and Obsidian — and has a matte finish on the back regardless of which color you pick.
Both phones have an OLED display, but the screen on the OnePlus 13 is 0.5 inches bigger than the Google Pixel 9 Pro at 6.8 inches. Despite the slight difference in screen size, the bigger screen on the former phone might benefit those who play console games remotely on mobile, while the smaller screen is more suitable for scrolling through social media and watching videos. Both phones do allow for Netflix and gaming, for sure, but the larger screen on the OnePlus 13 seems to be running the gauntlet in the entertainment department.
Performance is a fine line between speed and quality, especially when two phones run different processors. The OnePlus 13 houses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, while the Google Pixel 9 Pro carries the Tensor G4. The frequency of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip runs as fast as 4.32GHz, helping to enhance CPU and GPU performance on the OnePlus 13 to consume less power and help users play games like Fortnite or Genshin Impact for 2.5 hours longer without overheating and lagging. The Tensor G4, on the other hand, runs at a frequency of 3.10GHz only to throttle the speed down to 1.32GHz. It’s a disappointing performance rate, considering the Pixel 9 Pro has a larger vapor cooling chamber than the base model to better compensate for heat dissipation. This is because, unlike the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Google designed the Tensor G4 for the sake of opening apps quicker rather than running those apps more efficiently.
As for the battery, the OnePlus 13 has a bigger battery than the Google Pixel 9 Pro as well as a faster charging rate, depending on the method. It has a 6,000mAh battery that supports 80W SuperVOOC wired charging and 50W AirVOOC wireless charging. Google’s Pixel 9 Pro, meanwhile, has a 4,700mAh battery that supports 27W of wired charging and 21W of wireless charging. That’s not fast enough for a lot of people, and it gives the OnePlus phone an advantage.
The phones show off vastly different camera designs, but their specs are a little similar. The OnePlus 13 has three 50-megapixel cameras and a flash unit. The primary camera comes courtesy of Sony, the secondary lens has an ultrawide sensor with a 120-degree field of view, and the third one allows you to zoom in up to 3x — all of which are fitted nicely on a circular silver platform (or black platform if you get the Obsidian Secret Realm model). The Google Pixel 9 Pro has a 50MP primary camera, but its ultrawide and telephoto cameras are 48MP, and they’re fitted neatly onto its signature long, sideways, pill-shaped window.
The selfie camera only has 32MP, so the resolution may not be that high when photos and videos are taken from that angle, especially when it’s being used for content creation. However, the rear camera does have a hybrid 6x zoom that runs in tandem with software and AI to give every photo it takes more detail, even in a low-light setting. The Google Pixel 9 Pro’s front-facing camera has 42MP, which may give your selfies and TikTok videos a giant pop of color, even with autofocus, making your photos look like they came straight out of a magazine. It has 5x optical zoom, but the furthest you can zoom in is 30x.
The OnePlus 13 runs on its native OxygenOS 15 in conjunction with Android 15. It will give you six years’ worth of security updates on top of four years of software updates.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro runs on Android 14 out of the box, but you can upgrade it to Android 15 the second you get the notification telling you the update is ready for you to install. You get seven years’ worth of updates on the Google Pixel 9 Pro.
Aside from the powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and a dual water resistance rating of IP68 and IP69, the OnePlus 13 has the Dynamic Cloud, which is like the Dynamic Island on the current-gen iPhone, but it only prioritizes music playback and some other AI activities. Speaking of AI, it has Google Gemini as the default AI assistant, but its native AI can summarize the recordings made on the Recorder app in the Notes app. Otherwise, the dual operating systems help the phone run as smoothly as running water.
Google Pixel 9 Pro comes with Gemini AI pre-installed, granting users the option to redeem a free year of Gemini Advanced, the premium version of Gemini AI that boasts priority access to new and exclusive features, the ability to edit and run Python code directly into Gemini, and 2TB of storage from Google One, among other things that they would have to pay $20 a month for if they bought the base Google Pixel 9.
The OnePlus 13 costs $900 for the 12GB/256GB version, while the 16GB/512GB version is available at $1,000.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro is available for $999.
As much as we would love to give the Buy at OnePlus the winner’s flowers, we’re giving them to the Buy at Amazon . It may have a less-powerful processor than the OnePlus 13 and a slightly smaller display, but you can’t deny that it still has an excellent camera setup, advanced AI tools that will help users work more efficiently, and a gift of an operating system that will keep on giving for seven years, if not longer. Plus, the color options for the Google Pixel 9 Pro are a little more expansive than the OnePlus 13, especially because there’s a pink phone available.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.
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The rumored camera setup includes a single 48MP rear camera and a possible 24MP selfie camera. There's new hardware to consider, but buyers hoping Apple would extend that upgrade generosity to smoother scrolling could be disappointed.