The testers at DxoMark have their hands on a Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. The camera of both phones has not yet been tested, but the screen has, and what do they find out? Both smartphones have the best screen ever in a mobile phone.
Google announced the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro in October of 2023, and they are the first phones equipped with an Actua Display. A nice marketing term does not make a good screen; that is where DxOMark comes in.
DxOMark awarded the displays of both the Google Pixel 8 and the Google Pixel 8 Pro with a score of 154. Never before has a phone achieved such a high score. That both phones have precisely the same score is somewhat remarkable. After all, they do not have exactly equal screens. The 8 has an 'Actua Display' with refresh rate between 60 and 120Hz and peak brightness of 2000 nits, while the 8 Pro has a Super Actua Display with refresh rate between 1 and 120Hz and peak brightness of 2400 nits.
Mostly readability praised
However, in both cases, DxOMark writes that both displays read well in almost all conditions, colors are rendered well, brightness and contrast are good with HDR10 content and it can render animations smoothly. There are marginal differences in individual test items, including "Readability," but they do not result in a different final verdict.
Improvements
However, DxOMark did find one area of improvement, as it detects aliasing when playing games. Here, lines are rendered jaggedly. With the Pixel 8's screen, a pink blur can be observed during bright conditions. This problem does not occur on the Pixel 8 Pro, possibly because of opting for a different screen technology.
Previous winners
The previous device with the best phone display was the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 with a score of 152. We do not find the first Apple until spot 6, the iPhone 15 Pro Max with a score of 149.
