Home > Smartphone comparison > Pixel 5 vs Pixel 3 – which one to choose?

Google Pixel 5 vs Pixel 3

50 out of 100
Google Pixel 5
VS
42 out of 100
Google Pixel 3
Google Pixel 5
Google Pixel 3

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6-inch Google Pixel 5 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G) that was released on September 30, 2020, against the Google Pixel 3, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and came out 2 years and 1 month before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory 8 / 128 GB
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 5
  • Comes with 1165 mAh larger battery capacity: 4080 vs 2915 mAh
  • Higher display refresh rate – 90 Hz
  • Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
  • Delivers 76% higher peak brightness (704 against 399 nits)
  • Shows 34% longer battery life (20:28 vs 15:14 hours)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Has a 0.5 inch larger screen size
  • More recent OS version: Android 14 versus 12
  • 10% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (622K versus 564K)
  • Thinner bezels – 8.1% more screen real estate
  • The phone is 2 years and 1 month newer

Review

Evaluation of Google Pixel 5 and Pixel 3 crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 49% Yes
Maybe, but mainly if you specifically want better battery life.
This is a situational upgrade. It makes the most sense if better battery life matters to you.
Main improvements: battery life, display, and camera.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Pixel 5
vs
Pixel 3

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6 inches 5.5 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2160 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 18:9
PPI 432 ppi 439 ppi
Refresh rate 90 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 700 nits 420 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 6 Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 86.8% 78.7%
Display features - Always-On Display - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97.4% 99.6%
PWM 367 Hz 245 Hz
Response time 5 ms 4.4 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Pixel 5
6″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 13.7 in2
Pixel 3
5.5″ (18:9 ratio) = 12.1 in2
~13% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Pixel 5 +76%
704 nits
Pixel 3
399 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 144.7 mm (5.7 inches) 145.6 mm (5.73 inches)
Width 70.4 mm (2.77 inches) 68.2 mm (2.69 inches)
Thickness 8 mm (0.31 inches) 7.9 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 151 g (5.33 oz) 148 g (5.22 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Metal Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Green White, Black, Pink
Fingerprint scanner Yes, rear Yes, rear
Screen-to-body ratio
Pixel 5 +10%
86.8%
Pixel 3
78.7%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Google Pixel 5 and Google Pixel 3
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Max clock 2400 MHz 2500 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 1 + 6) 8 (4 + 4)
Architecture - 6 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 475 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 1 core at 2.2 GHz: Kryo 475 Gold (Cortex-A76)
- 1 core at 2.4 GHz: Kryo 475 Prime (Cortex-A76)		 - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 385 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 4 cores at 2.8 GHz: Kryo 385 Gold (Cortex-A75)
L3 cache - 2 MB
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 7 nanometers 10 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon 696 Hexagon 685
GPU
Graphics Adreno 620 Adreno 630
GPU shading units 384 512
GPU clock 750 MHz 710 MHz
FLOPS ~480 GFLOPS ~727 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Google Pixel 5 and Google Pixel 3
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Pixel 5 +4%
765
Pixel 3
734
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Pixel 5 +3%
1944
Pixel 3
1882
Single-core score 765 734
Multi-core score 1944 1882
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Pixel 5 +10%
622520
Pixel 3
564887
CPU 247674 230869
GPU 68842 64444
Memory 129273 118989
UX 176731 150585
Total score 622520 564887
Samples [2 tests] [2 tests]
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Pixel 5
n/a
Pixel 3
445
Stability - 88%
Graphics test - 2 FPS
Graphics score - 445
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Pixel 5
n/a
Pixel 3
8977
Web score - 7215
Video editing - 6392
Photo editing - 18641
Data manipulation - 6714
Writing score - 9480
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Google Pixel 5
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-04-23 (Guitar91)AnTuTu 11622520
📘 2025-11-22 (Artreg)AnTuTu 11566323
Add View all (2)
Google Pixel 3
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-03-01 (Ivan)AnTuTu 11564887
📘 2026-01-31 -> GamingLuAnTuTu 11540317
Add View all (2)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2133 MHz 1866 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 64 GB
Storage type UFS 2.1 UFS 2.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 14) Android 9.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 12)
ROM Stock Android Stock Android
OS size 16.6 GB 12 GB

Battery

Capacity 4080 mAh 2915 mAh
Max charge power 18 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (12 W) Yes, Qi (10 W)
Reverse charging Yes No
Fast charging Yes (30% in 30 min) Yes, Quick Charge 4 (50% in 40 min)
Full charging time 1:45 hr 2:00 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:33 hr 05:20 hr
Watching video 13:33 hr 09:37 hr
Gaming 04:59 hr 03:31 hr
Standby 98 hr 78 hr
General battery life
Pixel 5 +34%
20:28 hr
Pixel 3
15:14 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 12.2 megapixels 12.2 megapixels
Image resolution 4290 x 2800 4032 x 3024
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 107° -
Lenses 1) Standard: 12.2 MP
2) Ultrawide: 16 MP
1) Standard: 12.2 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 12.2 MP 12.2 MP
Aperture f/1.7 f/1.8
Focal length 27 mm 28 mm
Sensor Sony IMX363 Sony IMX363
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.4 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 16 MP -
Aperture f/2.2 -
Focal length 24 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX481 -
Sensor size 1/3.09" (≈ 0.32 inch) -
Pixel size 1 micron -
Stabilization Digital -

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Pixel 5 +16%
119
Pixel 3
103
Video quality
Pixel 5 +8%
106
Pixel 3
98
Generic main camera score
Pixel 5 +8%
109
Pixel 3
101
Bokeh 60 -
Preview 58 -
Zoom 71 -
Samples Photo samples of Google Pixel 5 from DxOMark Photo samples of Google Pixel 3 from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 8 megapixels 8 megapixels
Image resolution 3264 x 2448 3264 x 2448
Aperture f/2.0 f/1.8
Focal length 24 mm 28 mm
Sensor CMOS Sony IMX355
Sensor size 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.4 micron
Autofocus No Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS
Additional lens - 8 MP, f/19
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No
DxOMark front camera
Pixel 5 +2%
126
Pixel 3
123
Photo 117 124
Video 142 121

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display		 - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
Bluetooth version 5 5
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.1 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 15 16
5G support Yes No

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos No No
Speakers test
Max loudness
Pixel 5 +8%
91.9 dB
Pixel 3
84.9 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2020 October 2018
Release date October 2020 November 2018
Launch price (MSRP) $700 $800
Successor - Google Pixel 10 Pro - Google Pixel 10a
SAR (head) 0.96 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.39 W/kg -
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Google Pixel 5 is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
76 (50.7%)
74 (49.3%)
Total votes: 150

Related comparisons

1. Google Pixel 3 vs Google Pixel 6a
2. Google Pixel 3 vs Google Pixel 4a
3. Google Pixel 5 vs Google Pixel 8a
4. Google Pixel 5 vs Google Pixel 6
5. Google Pixel 5 vs Google Pixel 5a 5G
6. Google Pixel 5 vs Google Pixel 6a (2)
Compare other phones (860+)

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
🌐 Register your profile and become part of NanoReview community!
EnglishРусский