Home > Smartphone comparison > Xperia 1 VI vs Pixel 8 – which one to choose?

Sony Xperia 1 VI vs Google Pixel 8

79 out of 100
Sony Xperia 1 VI
VS
69 out of 100
Google Pixel 8
Sony Xperia 1 VI
Google Pixel 8

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.5-inch Sony Xperia 1 VI (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) that was released on May 15, 2024, against the Google Pixel 8, which is powered by Google Tensor G3 and came out 8 months 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
  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 Sony Xperia 1 VI
  • The rear camera has a 7.1x optical zoom
  • Shows 49% longer battery life (29:19 vs 19:39 hours)
  • 45% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2096K versus 1443K)
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
  • Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 8
  • Delivers 10% higher peak brightness (1458 against 1322 nits)
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 16
  • Slow-motion recording at 240FPS
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+1)

Review

Evaluation of Sony Xperia 1 VI and Google Pixel 8 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
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
12 / 256 GB
VS
8 / 128 GB
8.4
(Bad)
Value Index
41.8
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Xperia 1 VI
vs
Pixel 8

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.5 inches 6.2 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 396 ppi 428 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes Yes (60-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1300 nits 2000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1400 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate 240 Hz -
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Gorilla Glass Victus
Screen-to-body ratio 86.5% 87.1%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space - 99.2%
PWM - 170 Hz
Response time - 3 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Xperia 1 VI
6.5″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 16.1 in2
Pixel 8
6.2″ (20:9 ratio) = 14.4 in2
~11% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Xperia 1 VI
1322 nits
Pixel 8 +10%
1458 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 162 mm (6.38 inches) 150.5 mm (5.93 inches)
Width 74 mm (2.91 inches) 70.8 mm (2.79 inches)
Thickness 8.2 mm (0.32 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 192 g (6.77 oz) 187 g (6.6 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Green Black, Gray, Rose gold
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-button Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
Xperia 1 VI
86.5%
Pixel 8 +1%
87.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Sony Xperia 1 VI and Google Pixel 8
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Google Tensor G3
Max clock 3300 MHz 3000 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 2 + 2) 9 (1 + 4 + 4)
Architecture - 2 cores at 2.27 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 2 cores at 2.96 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 3 cores at 3.15 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 3.3 GHz: Cortex-X4		 - 4 cores at 1.7 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 4 cores at 2.37 GHz: Cortex-A715
- 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X3
L3 cache 12 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC Samsung
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Yes
GPU
Graphics Adreno 750 Immortalis-G715s MC10
GPU shading units 1536 896
GPU clock 903-1000 MHz 890 MHz
FLOPS ~2774 GFLOPS ~1594.8 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Sony Xperia 1 VI and Google Pixel 8
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Xperia 1 VI +23%
2125
Pixel 8
1722
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Xperia 1 VI +37%
6119
Pixel 8
4458
Single-core score 2125 1722
Multi-core score 6119 4458
Sources: Geekbench [3]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Xperia 1 VI +45%
2096581
Pixel 8
1443431
CPU 562725 535125
GPU 735671 387735
Memory 319925 186665
UX 478260 333906
Total score 2096581 1443431
Samples Less than 3 [10 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Xperia 1 VI +60%
1553
Pixel 8
971
Stability 68% 73%
Graphics test 12 FPS 7 FPS
Graphics score 1553 971
3DMark Solar Bay
Xperia 1 VI
7505
Pixel 8
n/a
Graphics test 29 FPS -
Section 1 36 FPS -
Section 2 29 FPS -
Section 3 20 FPS -
Graphics score 7505 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Xperia 1 VI
16567
Pixel 8
n/a
Web score 14369 -
Video editing 8074 -
Photo editing 33057 -
Data manipulation 16875 -
Writing score 19796 -
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Sony Xperia 1 VI
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-11-19 (Belgieca)AnTuTu 112096581
Add View all (1)
Google Pixel 8
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-08-28 (asfiii-malik)AnTuTu 111515235
📘 2026-08-28 (asfiii-baloch)AnTuTu 111515235
📘 2026-05-04 (reazz)AnTuTu 111356451
📘 2026-04-29 -> tonymennyAnTuTu 111446448
📘 2026-03-16 (Quan)AnTuTu 111479583
Add View all (14)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 4200 MHz 4200 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 3.1
Memory card MicroSD No
Memory card max size Up to 1024 GB -

Software

Operating system Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 17)
ROM - Stock Android
OS size - 14 GB
OS updates - 7 years
Security updates - 7 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 4575 mAh
Max charge power 30 W 27 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes Yes (18 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging - No
Fast charging Yes (50% in 30 min) Yes (56% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:30 hr 1:16 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 11:45 hr 08:08 hr
Watching video 20:22 hr 14:06 hr
Gaming 07:25 hr 04:49 hr
Standby 127 hr 81 hr
General battery life
Xperia 1 VI +49%
29:19 hr
Pixel 8
19:39 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 48 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 8000 x 6000 8192 x 6144
Zoom Optical, 7.1x Digital
Flash LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 120 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 123° 126°
Lenses 1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Telephoto: 12 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 48 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/1.7
Focal length 24 mm 25 mm
Sensor Sony IMX888 Samsung GNV
Sensor size 1/1.35" (≈ 0.74 inch) 1/1.31" (≈ 0.76 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.2 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Laser autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 12 MP -
Aperture f/2.3 - 3.5 -
Focal length 170 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX650 -
Sensor size 1/3.5" (≈ 0.29 inch) -
Pixel size 1 micron -
Stabilization Optical -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 16 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX563 Sony IMX386 Exmor RS
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/2.9" (≈ 0.34 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.25 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh - 70
Preview - 64
Zoom - 129
Samples - Photo samples of Google Pixel 8 from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 10.5 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 3648 x 2736
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.2
Focal length 24 mm 21 mm
Sensor Sony IMX663 -
Sensor size 1/2.9" (≈ 0.34 inch) 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
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 5.4 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
DisplayPort Yes Yes
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* - 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack Yes No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes No
Speakers test
Max loudness
Xperia 1 VI
n/a
Pixel 8
89 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced May 2024 October 2023
Release date June 2024 October 2023
Launch price (MSRP) $1399 $699
Successor - Sony Xperia 1 VII - Google Pixel 10
Sensors - 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
Further details
Notes on Xperia 1 VI:
    - Wi-Fi 7 support depends on the region.
*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 Sony Xperia 1 VI is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
2 (66.7%)
1 (33.3%)
Total votes: 3

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