Samsung Galaxy S22 (Snapdragon) vs Google Pixel 7a

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.1-inch Samsung Galaxy S22 (Snapdragon) (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1) that was released on February 9, 2022, against the Google Pixel 7a, which is powered by Google Tensor G2 and came out 15 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S22 (Snapdragon)
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • 32% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (984K versus 748K)
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Thinner bezels – 5.6% more screen real estate
  • Reverse charging feature
  • Weighs 26.5 grams less
  • 17% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1682 and 1435 points
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 7a
  • Comes with 685 mAh larger battery capacity: 4385 vs 3700 mAh
  • Shows 17% longer battery life (29:33 vs 25:13 hours)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • The phone is 1-year and 3-months newer
  • Delivers 9% higher peak brightness (1080 against 987 nits)

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S22 (Snapdragon) and Google Pixel 7a 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
Choose the importance of each parameter to more accurately identify the smartphone that best meets your particular needs.
Adjust priorities
Feature
Priority (Weight)
Display:
Camera:
Performance:
Gaming:
Battery Life:
The higher the priority, the more it will affect the final NanoReview score.

Value for money

You can enter your local prices of these phones (in USD or other currency) and click on the "Calculate" button to see which one has a better value for money.
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Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED OLED
Size 6.1 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 425 ppi 429 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 90 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
Max rated brightness 780 nits 700 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1300 nits 1300 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Plus Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Screen-to-body ratio 87.4% 81.8%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space - 98.4%
PWM - 218 Hz
Response time - 2 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Pixel 7a +9%
1080 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 146 mm (5.75 inches) 152 mm (5.98 inches)
Width 70.6 mm (2.78 inches) 72.9 mm (2.87 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 167 g (5.89 oz) 193.5 g (6.83 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Gray, Blue, Green, Pink, Purple, Yellow White, Gray, Blue, Orange
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S22 (Snapdragon) and Google Pixel 7a in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Google Tensor G2
Max clock 3000 MHz 2850 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (2 + 2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 3 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 1 core at 3 GHz: Cortex-X2
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.35 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 2 cores at 2.85 GHz: Cortex-X1
L3 cache 6 MB 4 MB
Lithography process 4 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Adreno 730 Mali-G710 MP7
GPU shading units 1536 672
GPU clock 818 MHz 850 MHz
FLOPS ~2512.8 GFLOPS ~1142.4 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
748569
CPU 312488 232766
GPU 278598 187707
Memory 175422 160960
UX 209668 162802
Total score 984614 748569
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature - 50.8 °C
Stability 49% 65%
Graphics test 44 FPS 37 FPS
Graphics score 7443 6343
PCMark 3.0
Web score 11520 7662
Video editing 7330 6390
Photo editing 29414 19572
Data manipulation 10472 10210
Writing score 15147 15268
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock - 3200 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 128, 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 13
ROM One UI 5.1 Stock Android

Battery

Capacity 3700 mAh 4385 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes (63% in 30 min) Yes (20% in 36 min)
Full charging time 1:03 hr 1:57 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:13 hr 11:05 hr
Watching video 11:22 hr 15:28 hr
Gaming 03:54 hr 05:16 hr
Standby 88 hr 73 hr
General battery life
Pixel 7a +17%
29:33 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 50 megapixels 64 megapixels
Image resolution 8160 x 6120 9000 x 7000
Zoom Optical, 3x Digital
Flash LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 24FPS No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 3 (50 MP + 10 MP + 12 MP) 2 (64 MP + 13 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 50 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 24 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.56", Samsung GN5 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 64 MP
- Aperture: f/1.9
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.73", Sony IMX787 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 10 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 70 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.94", Sony IMX772 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
-
Ultra-wide lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Sony IMX713 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- 13 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.06", Sony IMX712 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples - Photo samples of Google Pixel 7a from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 10 megapixels 13 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.2 -
Focal length 26 mm -
Pixel size 1.22 microns -
Sensor type CMOS -
Sensor size 1/3.24" -
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.2 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 20 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced February 2022 May 2023
Release date February 2022 May 2023
SAR (head) 0.21 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.59 W/kg -
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the performance, gaming, connectivity, software, and design are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S22 (Snapdragon). But if the battery life is more of a priority – go for the Google Pixel 7a.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
25 (62.5%)
15 (37.5%)
Total votes: 40

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