Google Pixel 8 Pro display deep dive: Brain finally meets brawn

The Pixel lineup has developed a mixed reputation over its lifetime. On the one hand, Google often pushes the needle for what smartphones can do, creating unique solutions to complex problems a lot of people might have. These include things like Call Screening to combat spam calls, Now Playing to identify songs around you, or the new Best Take camera feature, which can swap out faces in a photo with a more appealing one. Google also leverages its software talent to try to make the most out of the components used in its phones, often punching above its weight against competitors, which might use similar parts.

On the other hand, Google can sometimes be heavy-handed about prioritizing software first. With Pixel phones, upgrades to hardware seem like a last resort after it’s exhausted all other tuning efforts. You might be familiar with Google recycling the same camera sensors multiple years in a row, with its latest phone featuring the third recurrence of Samsung’s sensor (albeit slightly updated). Similarly, last year’s Pixel 7 Pro reused the same OLED panel found on its predecessor and pushed it past reasonable limits, which led to extraordinary power consumption. But this year is a different story — at least as far as the display goes.

About this review: The Pixel 8 Pro used for testing was loaned from Google. The company had no involvement in the contents of this review.

Display hardware and overview

Google debuts its Super Actua branding

The first major difference with the Pixel 8 Pro display is its all-new fancy-schmancy name, which Google calls a “Super Actua” display. I don’t know exactly what that’s supposed to mean, but there have been some changes. The screen form factor has reverted to being completely flat for the entire emissive area, which I prefer, but there’s a slight taper towards the bezel, resulting in 2.5D cover glass. The Pixel 8 Pro also has a smaller chin, which isn’t exactly symmetrical with the other three bezels but is similar. Compared to the 7 Pro, the reduced screen width and chin bezel alter the aspect ratio from 19.5:9 to 20:9 while keeping the phone the same size.

There are slightly fewer pixels packed in this year, with the Pixel 8 Pro using a non-conventional 1344×2992 resolution. This brings the pixel density down from 512 pixels per inch (PPI) to 489, though it shouldn’t at all be noticeable if you’re running the screen at full resolution.

Why did Google make this decision in the first place? The most logical answer I can think of is that Google is trying to find a balance between screen sharpness and pixel size, where larger pixels on OLEDs this size are more efficient and more resistant to permanent burn-in. Another way to improve pixel unit efficiency is to increase the aperture ratio of the subpixels. However, we don’t find this to be the case for the Pixel 8 Pro, as it has an identical aperture ratio to last year. To this day, the iPhone remains the only smartphone I’ve tested that utilizes conventionally larger subpixels.

Pixel 8 Pro (left), set to 1008p, vs. base Pixel 8 (right), native 1080p

Out of the box, the Pixel 8 Pro resolution is set to 1008p (yes, not 1080p), stated for battery concerns. I’m unsure of any public testing that found a meaningful difference in autonomy running a display of this density at something lower, but I did notice the Pixel 8 Pro does look fuzzier than usual at this reduced render scale. Compared to the native 1080p/428 PPI screen on the base Pixel 8, the latter is unmistakably sharper. At full resolution, the Pixel 8 Pro is as sharp as any other 1440p OLED of its size.

As with all modern flagship smartphone screens, the star of the show continues to be an OLED sourced from Samsung Display, despite Google’s new pet name for it. But this year, the company has moved on to developing its display driver in-house rather than using the one packaged by the display vendor, which is probably why Google felt inclined to give the screen its own branding.

This time around, the screen hasn’t just improved one generation or even two — it’s jumped three whole generations compared to last year’s phone, from the vendor’s E4 OLED material set all the way up to E7. In short, the luminescent materials are a huge factor in the screen’s peak brightness and power efficacy, with each new Samsung Display generation yielding about a 15% uplift in both. We’ll get to some real numbers soon.

RGB OLED spectrum and subpixels for Pixel 8 Pro

Of course, not all screens are made equal, and even similar-grade panels can substantially differ in tuning and representation. For instance, the Google Pixel 7- and 8-series are currently the only Android smartphones to support proper HDR playback brightness via SDR dimming, which allows HDR photos and videos to show realistic highlights and legible shadows without needing to boost the entire system’s brightness. This characteristic is crucial in supporting the new Ultra HDR photos taken by the Pixel 8 and helps future-proof the phone for the new generation of high dynamic range content

A couple of miscellaneous screen characteristics have also been improved. The viewing angles are better thanks to the new hardware, with almost no perceptible color tinting at both smaller and larger angles. In terms of screen uniformity, a full dark-gray screen measured at 0.01 nits looked completely even to my eyes without a darkened strip across the hole-punch like many other Android phones. The photo added above exaggerates the difference. Black smearing has also been reduced, though there is still a hint of it with gray-on-black when scrolling near minimum brightness. So far, the latest ProMotion iPhones are the only OLEDs I’ve seen to have completely eliminated the smearing, and I’m incredibly curious to know how Apple’s engineers have done it.

Color gamut and screen modes

As usual, the Pixel 8 Pro comes in two selectable color profiles. Out of the box, the Adaptive mode is applied, which adds a very subtle boost to the saturation of red and green colors. It barely extends past the sRGB primaries, so those who prefer more punchy colors are out of luck. Google very much wants the Pixel screen experience to be accurate-only, similar to iPhones, which don’t even offer other color profiles. The Natural profile is for users who care about absolute color accuracy, with complete conformance to the sRGB or the Display P3 spec. Both profiles target the industry standard D65 white point, and both support wide-gamut color management.

Peak brightness

Massive year-on-year improvements

Peak luminance chart for the Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 7 Pro

With the launch of the Google Pixel 8 Pro, the company announced one of the largest leaps in the Pixel lineup’s hardware capabilities in recent memory. Officially, the Pixel 8 Pro display boasts up to 2,400 nits peak brightness, or 1,600 nits inside HDR content. If we look into the footnotes, Google notes these figures were taken under the condition of a 5% window size for 2,400 nits and a 100% window size for 1,600 nits. Compared to last year, this suggests the Pixel 8 Pro can get up to 60% brighter. These are absolutely best-in-class numbers that currently trump the Pixels’ main competition, namely Samsung and Apple. But how truthful are they?

The figure that most impressed me was Google’s 1,600-nit claim for a full white screen, which almost seems absurd considering that the iPhone 14 Pro and the Galaxy S23 Ultra top out around 1,100 nits fullscreen. Sadly, my Pixel 8 Pro could not reproduce Google’s advertised peak, and the most mine could muster was about 1,490 nits fullscreen with auto-brightness maxed out. Mind you, 1,490 nits is almost indistinguishable from 1,600, but I would consider a 7% error in reporting to really be straddling honesty, especially if the revealing reason had to do with quality control issues. If only companies would loan us dozens of review units so we could get a feel for the variance. Nevertheless, almost 1,500 nits fullscreen is still astounding.

The Pixel 8 Pro (left) outshines the iPhone 14 Pro Max (right) in light-themed content when outdoors

What about 2,400 nits? More bad news: I could only measure 2,215 nits, and that was for an even-brighter 1% window size compared to the 5% Google described. In the same condition, I measured last year’s iPhone 14 Pro to output 2,270 nits, which only advertised a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. At a more modest 20% window size, the screen can still sustain 2000 nits brightness, which is still excellent. And for light-themed apps, you can expect about 1600 nits peak from the Pixel 8 Pro, which aligns with the company’s HDR figure.

Manual brightness sees the most surprising bump, from last year’s 600 nits up to almost 1,000 nits now. A caveat is that the auto-brightness must be disabled for the maximum brightness slider position to hit 1,000 nits; otherwise it will be limited down to 600 nits, depending on ambient lighting. On the other hand, auto-brightness must be kept enabled if you want the display to output over 1,000 nits when outdoors.

Another thing I noticed is that auto-brightness transitions are much smoother now, especially when dimming. No longer does the screen abruptly switch brightness levels. There is now an actual velocity to the transitions: small adjustments occur smoothly, while larger shifts happen over a longer period. The phone is also less prone to dimming back down when it’s recently needed to ramp up.

Display power

Significantly less power than last year

Display power chart for Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 7 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, and Galaxy S23 Ultra

Things look even better when we look at how much power the phone uses for its screen. Last year, the Pixel 7 Pro was a total mess when it came to display power; it re-used the same panel found the year prior, pushing an abnormally large voltage to reach higher brightness. The new hardware on the Pixel 8 Pro is in a completely different league, using less than half the Pixel 7 Pro’s power to output the same 1,000 nits while also being 30% more efficient than both the Galaxy S23 Ultra and the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Medium brightness levels also see real benefits.

At the top end, the maximum display power now falls more in line with other phones. Similar to the Galaxy and the iPhone, the Pixel 8 Pro uses up to about 5W for the peak fullscreen brightness of its display, which is a good chunk lower than the 6.4W found on the Pixel 7 Pro, all while emitting 50% more light. In sum, the luminance-area footprint of the Pixel 8 Pro is about 45% the size of last year’s, which should be a blessing to the overall battery for the device — at least in theory.

Like with most other phones, the screen on the Pixel 8 Pro will throttle down its maximum brightness if the internal temperature of the device exceeds a certain threshold. From my testing, it consistently held on to a higher peak brightness longer than my iPhone 14 Pro Max. What I found is that the Pixel 8 Pro’s display throttling can also be much more responsive, incorporating the entire brightness gradation into the mix rather than a dichotomy of full high-brightness mode on (1,500 nits) versus high-brightness mode off (600 nits). The phone can be a bit stubborn to surpass 1000 nits, and the longest I could sustain the full 1.490 nits peak was for three minutes, requiring about a minute’s rest before the phone was ready to ramp back up again. The internal display parameters for the Pixel 8 Pro suggest that it is still limited to its peak brightness for a total of five minutes out of every thirty minutes, like previous Pixel phones.

Surprisingly, I found that the Pixel 8 Pro can sustain its 1,000-nit emission almost indefinitely, if not for other factors heating up the phone. It might have been a smart choice if Google limited the screen’s peak brightness, exchanging some output for one that is slightly less bright but much longer lasting. During car navigation, for example, it might be more useful to disable auto-brightness to keep the display at 1,000 nits peak for the duration of the drive rather than have it inconsistently modulate up to 1.500 nits for seconds at a time.

Impulse chart for the Pixel 8 Pro

For the display refresh, the Pixel 8 Pro OLED can now be pulsed once per second, compared to 10Hz on the Pixel 7 Pro. I’ve measured this difference to only save about 10mW, which is completely negligible. But with the new hardware, the jump from 10Hz to 120Hz now only consumes 200mW, down from 250mW on last year’s screen. In certain low-light conditions, the phone will not ramp down its refresh rate, locking itself at 120Hz to prevent the color shifting that occurs from being noticed. This only happens in near pitch-black conditions and when the system brightness is below 15%.

A new system layer was also added to let the Pixel OS display the OLED’s true driving rate, which I’ve verified with my flicker meter. It’s a little bothersome to see that playing 24FPS or 25FPS video still runs the display at 60Hz rather than at the content frame rate, which requires pulldown and some additional power. The pulse-width modulation frequency is also still at 240Hz, which is low and may bother users who are sensitive to flickering.

Grayscale and tone response

One word: superb

Tone curve and grayscale spread charts for the Pixel 8 Pro in Adaptive mode, medium brightness

In terms of tonal accuracy, the Adaptive color profile is superb. The Pixel 8 Pro tracks very close to the standard 2.2 gamma throughout its brightness range in this mode, with subjective lightness boosting at minimum and peak brightness to improve image legibility. Grayscale tinting is also handled very well, with almost no perceptible deviations to the coloring of gray tones from minimum brightness up to high brightness. At the panel’s peak brightness, there is a slight gradient towards magenta for darker tones, which isn’t noticeable when viewed under sunlight. However, it may show up when viewing HDR content, which calls for peak brightness in some conditions.

Tone curve and grayscale spread charts for the Pixel 8 Pro in Natural mode, medium brightness

The Natural mode may differ slightly from what most people would expect from an accurate color profile. That is because the color mode uses the piecewise sRGB tone curve rather than gamma 2.2, the former of which produces lighter shadows and a flatter image. This continues to be a controversial choice since most color graders today assume gamma 2.2 for a casual environment, not the sRGB curve. It would be best if Google offered a separate option for the tone curve used so that the user could select between gamma 2.2, gamma 2.4, or sRGB. In any case, the Pixel 8 Pro in its Natural mode does a good job reproducing the sRGB tone curve, and some may prefer it as it’s easier on the eyes, especially at night. Just be aware that color editing in this mode will have a different tone look when compared to almost every other phone or computer monitor.

Near-black details for the Pixel 8 Pro, brightened 6 stops

Many OLEDs suffer from a loss of detail for colors that are very close to black, so much so that it’s commonly called “black crush.” Ever since the Pixel 5, Google has done a great job mitigating this issue on its flagship displays, and the Pixel 8 Pro continues this trend. In both modes, the Pixel 8 Pro OLED can render the first step out of black, even at minimum brightness, including with Extra Dim enabled (up to about 50% intensity). Unsurprisingly, the Natural profile with its lighter shadows makes it even more obvious, but you’ll get a more natural gradation towards black with the 2.2-gamma applied from the Adaptive mode.

Color accuracy

Good enough by default, exceptional when using the “Natural” color mode

sRGB and P3 color accuracy charts for the Pixel 8 Pro in Adaptive mode, medium brightness

As anticipated, don’t expect the highest degree of accuracy when using the out-of-the-box color mode. Although it is much more subdued than the Vivid profiles on many other Android phones, there is still some noticeable coloring for almost all hues, with the exception of pure blue tones, which makes for an inconsistent chroma distribution. But in a pinch, the Adaptive profile strikes a good balance of vibrancy and accuracy, though it should be avoided when editing P3 content since the screen may clip colors near max-saturation reds and greens.

When outdoors, the Pixel 8 Pro will significantly boost the lightness and saturation of all colors to maximize the screen’s visibility. This amplification is done rather tastefully without going overboard, and it doesn’t introduce any drastic hue shifts, making the transition in and out of high-brightness mode much more natural.

sRGB and P3 color accuracy charts for the Pixel 8 Pro in Natural mode, medium brightness

When commanding total color accuracy, the Natural profile on the Pixel 8 Pro is one of the most accurate stock-from-factory screens I’ve measured. Starting with the central white point, our test unit’s average color difference across all brightness levels measures a super-low ΔETP = 0.5, which sets an excellent base for all other colors that follow. Next, the average total color error of our hue-saturation sweep measured ΔETP = 2.5 from low to high brightness, which is under the 3.0 reference target. Even more impressive is the maximum color error measured, which only gets as high as 5.3 for sRGB colors, or up to 7.4 for P3 colors. Almost all recent phones I’ve measured have maximum errors greater than 12, which Google has cleared by a good margin.

Finally, be advised that I’m using the Delta-E ITP color difference metric, which is more strict on its values, rather than Delta-E CIE2000, which almost all other websites use; Delta-E ITP predicts values that are approximately three times greater than the latter, so dividing our numbers given above by three gives context on how they perform compared to Delta-E values reported in other reviews.

Once again, I feel it’s necessary to regurgitate the effects of metamerism failure. No matter how accurately these OLEDs measure, their white point will always appear inaccurate to D65 without some offset applied. This gives all the more reason to provide users with white point adjustments, either in the form of RGB sliders or temperature and tint sliders. Without adjustments, you can expect a psychovisual ΔETP color error of about 12.

The fact of the matter is that current methods of color measurement don’t provide a definitive assessment for color matching. As it turns out, the difference in spectral distributions between OLEDs and LCDs creates a disagreement in the appearance of their white points. More precisely, the color of white on OLEDs will typically appear yellowish-green compared to an LCD display that measures identically. This is known as metameric failure, and it’s been widely acknowledged to occur with wide-gamut displays such as OLEDs. The standard illuminants (e.g. D65) have been defined with spectral distributions that match closer to that of an LCD, which should be used as a reference. For this reason, an offset towards magenta is needed for the white point of OLEDs to perceptually match the two display technologies.

HDR performance

One of the weakest aspects

HDR10 tone response, grayscale spread, and color accuracy charts for the Pixel 8 Pro

Recently, Google has been making strides in supporting HDR content, making it more accessible to the masses. Last year, the Pixel 7 introduced mixed SDR and HDR compositing with Android 13, helping HDR photos and videos to look correct inside any app at any brightness level. With this addition, the Pixel 8 Pro can show highlights that are up to 8 times brighter than SDR white. This headroom is reduced in half near minimum brightness so that users aren’t suddenly blinded by a stray Instagram reel. And now, with the Pixel 8 series, Google is making better use of the feature by adding Ultra HDR photo capture to its cameras, letting bright regions in your photos really pop.

Unlike previous Android phones, newer Pixels (right) can now view HDR videos within apps at the correct brightness, including picture-in-picture mode.

The phone does a fine job with the tone response and color accuracy of relative HDR formats, such as with Ultra HDR photos or HLG video. This is because the phone uses the same calibration as in SDR, simply mapping the HDR content onto an SDR space. But in some medium-APL conditions, neutral colors take on a slightly yellow tint. Tapping on the gesture bar immediately corrects the colors as the OS composites it back onto an SDR space. This yellowness appears with my testing pattern measurements but doesn’t show up often with the HDR content I test-played. Hopefully, this is a simple color management blunder that Google could fix in a future update.

Further, I wish Google would let HDR10 video play back with a brighter exposure than the reference ST2084 curve. Currently, the Pixel 8 Pro only modulates the overall HDR10 video brightness below 43% system brightness. Above this setting, HDR10 video will continue to play at reference brightness, with higher system brightness settings only increasing the amount of headroom. This can be very limiting since the reference curve is meant to be viewed in a dim room with controlled lighting.

In my opinion, the ideal system brightness setting for the HDR10 reference curve should be set to the same level where the screen outputs 100 nits for SDR white (the standard for SDR content), which happens around 56% brightness on the Pixel 8 Pro, with higher system brightness levels increasing the overall HDR10 video exposure. This is similar to how Apple currently handles it, and I believe it is by far the best implementation of HDR on any consumer device. The phone could also further benefit from tone mapping towards the content’s specified Maximum Content Light Level to eke out some extra brightness.

How does the Pixel 8 Pro’s display measure up?

It’s been a while since I’ve been truly impressed by a Pixel phone. Nowadays, almost every phone upgrade announced turns out to be tediously incremental. While I still have reservations about other parts of the phone, the total display package on the Pixel 8 Pro has been nothing short of exceptional. The company has come a long way since its early days, and it feels good to finally use a Pixel with a true high-end screen. There are still a few oddities I would love to see changed, such as the lack of white balance adjustments, the tone curve in Natural mode that no one uses, or the HDR10 reference brightness mapping. Ultimately, it’s the first time with a Pixel where I hadn’t wished I was using a different screen.