Pixel 9 Pro Fails To Beat Galaxy S24 Ultra In Zoomed Still Imaging, But At 100x Magnification, Google’s ‘Zoom Enhance’ Feature Bulldozes The Flagship
Samsung was the first to introduce ludicrous levels of digital zoom, with the iteration arriving with the Galaxy S20 Ultra called 100x Space Zoom. The Galaxy S24 Ultra launch saw the company bring in various improvements to the feature, along with a slew of computational techniques that helped add missing detail to the processed image. However, how well does it fare against its newest competitor, the Pixel 9 Pro?
Google has never advertised its latest flagship as a champion at still imaging at abnormally high levels of magnification, but its ‘Zoom Enhance’ feature pretty much ensures a ‘game over’ status for the competition, at least for now. A few comparison shots reveal the true magic of being a Pixel 9 Pro owner, so let us check out the newest image gallery.
Reviewer claims that the Pixel 9 Pro is inferior to the Galaxy S24 Ultra in zoomed images until ‘Zoom Enhance’ comes into play:
Arun Maini, who is known for his popular technology YouTube channel, Mrwhosetheboss, finally received a Pixel 9 Pro review unit from Google after it was revealed that the company did not send him one due to his harsh but fair opinion of last year’s Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. Thankfully, after a bit of communication happened between the two parties, Arun took the Pixel 9 Pro through its paces and found what he notes on X to be ‘one of the coolest phone features ever.’
Firstly, he outright admits that the flagship is inferior to the Galaxy S24 Ultra at capturing zoomed images, with a few comparison shots below showing that Samsung’s top-end model produces more detail at 5x and 30x magnification levels. At 100x zoom, neither flagship would capture any still images that would have a sliver of quality in them, but Zoom Enhance addresses that problem on the Pixel 9 Pro.
With the use AI, texture detail is added to Pixel 9 Pro’s 100x image, producing a higher-quality still compared to the Galaxy S24 Ultra. In short, Zoom Enhance can really clean up the image for you, but the content creator mentions in the post that once you start introducing AI to alter images, does it count as a real image taken from a smartphone camera? We are certain that there will be a lengthy debate about this, but when it comes to upping the quality, Google nailed it with the Pixel 9 Pro.
Now, all that remains to be seen is how the competition adapts to Zoom Enhance. Assuming that it will get better with every passing year, would there be a need to add those expensive periscope lenses to flagship smartphones now that AI can replicate the same thing? It appears that we will find out in the future.