Pixel Watch 5 vs. Galaxy Watch 9: Comparing Google and Samsung’s New Watches

While the Pixel 11 series received the spotlight at this week’s Made by Google event, the company also unveiled the Pixel Watch 5, its latest smartwatch. Though it looks similar to its predecessor, the Watch 5 does add a number of new health and fitness features, such as custom strength workouts and tracking vitals like blood pressure and insulin resistance. 

Seeing as Samsung also just announced its latest Galaxy Watch 9 recently, it makes sense to compare the two major Android smartwatches. The Galaxy Watch 9 also has a number of health and safety features, some of which are the same as the Pixel Watch 5 and some that set it apart from the competition. 

Here’s how the two major Android smartwatches compare.

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 9.Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Pricing

The Galaxy Watch 9 starts at $380 for its 40mm size and $410 for its slightly larger 44mm size. The Pixel Watch 5 costs slightly higher at $400 for its 41mm size and $430 for its 45mm size.

If you want cellular connectivity, you’ll have to pay more; the LTE versions of the Galaxy Watch 9 cost $50 more each, while the LTE versions of the Pixel Watch 5 cost around $100 more each. 

The 40mm Watch 9 ships in cream and graphite, while the 44mm ships in silver and graphite. The Pixel Watch 5 comes in matte black, polished silver and a new satin pyrite that’s a gold-and-silver blend. The 41mm Pixel Watch 5 also comes in an additional champagne gold finish. 

Those in the US also have the option of getting a special Stephen Curry edition Pixel Watch 5, which comes in the satin pyrite finish plus a “rye” silver-and-orange loop for $580. 

Design and display

Like its predecessor, the Pixel Watch 5 has a classic round design reminiscent of traditional wristwatches. There’s a seamless curved display with no visible frame that makes it look quite elegant on the wrist. The Galaxy Watch 9, on the other hand, is a bit chunkier, as it features a circular display that sits inside a rounded-square base.

As mentioned earlier, both watches come in two different sizes; the Pixel Watch 5 ships in 41mm and 45mm, while the Galaxy Watch 9 is available in 40mm and 44mm. Both watches feature a Super AMOLED display with 3,000 nits of peak brightness. They’re both also IP68-rated for dust and water resistance. 

The 45mm Google Pixel Watch 5.Carly Marsh/CNET

Health and safety features

Both watches offer activity and sleep tracking as well as a bevy of sensors such as an electrical heart sensor, a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, an infrared temperature sensor and more. The Pixel Watch 5, however, doesn’t have the Galaxy Watch’s bioelectrical impedance analysis sensor that can track body composition. Another feature that the Galaxy Watch has that the Pixel Watch doesn’t is a skin analyzer that can track carotenoids (antioxidants in the skin) via different color LEDs. 

The Pixel Watch 5 can, however, track your blood pressure and insulin resistance trends over time to help you identify if you have elevated risks for hypertension and diabetes. The features currently don’t have FDA clearance and are therefore not available at launch, however. The Galaxy Watch 9 can monitor blood pressure as well, though it requires you to use your own blood pressure cuff for calibration. 

With the Pixel Watch 5, Google is also introducing Health Guardian, which expands upon existing emergency safety features. For example, there’s now Breathing Emergency Detection, which will contact emergency services if there’s a life-threatening drop in oxygen saturation, even in the case of incidents like choking or drug toxicity. 

Though both the Pixel Watch 5 and the Galaxy Watch 9 offer fitness features like smart coaching and custom workouts, they have slightly different ways to access them. With the Galaxy Watch 9, if you already have a compatible Galaxy smartphone, you don’t have to pay extra for those features. The Pixel Watch 5, however, keeps certain features behind a Google Health Premium subscription for $10 per month (or $100 per year).

Side by side look of the two new Galaxy Watches: Galaxy Watch 9 and Ultra 2.Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Battery and processor

The 40mm version of the Pixel Watch 5 comes with a 332-mAh battery, while the 45mm version has a 465-mAh battery. According to Google, both have up to 30 hours of battery life with an always-on display. Comparatively, the Galaxy Watch 9’s 40mm variant has a 390-mAh battery white the 44mm version has a 445-mAh battery. Samsung also says that the Watch 9 lasts up to 30 hours on a single charge with the always-on display mode enabled. 

The Pixel Watch 5 still uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 processor, though it’s an “Accelerated” version of what was in the Pixel Watch 4. Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 9, however, uses the updated Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite processor. 

Check out the below chart for more comparisons between the Pixel Watch 5 and the Galaxy Watch 9.

Google Pixel Watch 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy Watch 9

I started my career with CNET all the way back in 2005, when the (original) Motorola Razrs were all the rage. Since then, I've written about everything from consumer electronics to internet culture for outlets like CNET, Engadget and Yahoo. Outside of work, I'm a big fan of baseball, board games, tabletop RPGs and improv comedy. See full bio