Can Google Pixel really compete with Apple iPhone 7?

Samsung is the undisputed King of Smartphone Sales. Apple offers the most coveted devices on the market. Now, Google is looking to become a true competitor, and there’s real potential for it’s Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL to overtake the popularity of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

Google isn’t worried about competing with Samsung so much. That brand, while good and sturdy, simply doesn’t compare to the quality of Apple. Don’t get me wrong – I love Samsung. But it’s their price point that earns them the title of top selling smartphone brand, not the extent of what’s under the hood.

If we want to throw a big party, we don’t grab top-shelf alcohol, but if we’re buying for a special occasion… you get the idea. Samsung gets the job done well enough, while Apple products are for those who don’t mind spending more to get a few extra perks.

Personally, I’m a Samsung enthusiast, because I don’t appreciate Apple’s drive to make users buy more Apple branded products in order to make the most of their devices. But after getting a close look at the new Google Pixel… I think I’ve been converted.

Google Pixel, Pixel XL vs. iPhone 7, 7 Plus

The Google Pixel is everything the Apple iPhone 7 is, and then some. It looks incredibly similar, for one. The Pixel XL and iPhone 7 Plus even have the exact same screen size, although XL a bit slimmer and lighter, making it easier to pocket and carry. The Pixel XL also has an AMOLED screen, where iPhone 7 Plus still boasts the old 1080 LCD, which means the image quality is noticeably better due to higher contrasting of dark and vibrant colors.

Google Assistant Out-Performs Siri

My absolute favorite part is the Google Assistant. For years now, Apple’s Siri has been considered the superior voice assistant; a professional league compared to Cortana’s minor league status. But Google Assistant has proved far better in understanding speech, even quickly uttered words, and the results are more often a spoken answer, not a link to a webpage.

Jake Swearingen of NYMag thoroughly tested the two, and found that Google Assistant was able to understand his rapidly spoke “Am I going to need an umbrella tomorrow”. The reply was no, followed by a brief, sunny 80°F degree weather report.

Siri, on the other hand, asked Swearingen to “set the ‘in an umbrella’ alarm for when tomorrow?”

In another experiment, he asked for flights flying out of New York for San Francisco. Siri gave him links off Bing, while Google Assistant offered a list of flights, with their respective airlines and prices.

Under The Hood

Google Pixel smartphones come with the latest bloatware-free Android Nougat 7.1; iPhone 7 the iOS 10. Both offer front- and rear-facing cameras. iPhone 7 features 7.0 and 12.0 megapixels respectively, while Google Pixel is a bit better with 8.0 and 12.0 megapixels.

iPhone 7 offers 32GB, 128GB and 256GB internal memory (not expandable), while the Pixel comes with 32GB or 128 GB onboard (not expandable). Apple’s processor, a 64-bit Quad-Core Apple A10 Fusion, runs at 2.34GHz, slightly better than Pixel’s 2.1GHz Quad-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821, although the Pixel carries twice as much RAM than iPhone 7, 4GB-RAM to Apple’s 2GB-RAM.

What About The Price?

That’s another point where these two smartphones feature distinct similarities – identical, in fact The Google Pixel and iPhone 7, with 32GB onboard, each starts at $649 (128GB $749), while the Pixel XL and iPhone 7 Plus both start at $769.

So the question is – if it’s going to cost you the same amount anyway, which would you prefer? Has Apple finally met a rival worthy of its once-superior magnitude? We’ll find out soon enough, when the quarterly sales reports start pouring in.