iPhone Air vs Pixel 11 Pro

Google promises Android and security updates for a set time from when a Pixel first went on sale on the US Google Store. Apple gives no end date: its security releases page lists each update and which iPhones it is for.

On the Pixel side you see the month Google's promise runs until, or that Google no longer updates it (Pixel 5a and earlier); on the iPhone side, the latest update Apple has released for the newest iOS that iPhone can run. One is a promise about the future and the other a record of the past, so neither is marked as a gain or a loss.

Matters most if: You plan to keep the phone for many years, or you are buying one used.

Each maker's own battery test. Apple's figure is hours of video playback; Google's is an estimate for a typical Pixel user's mix of calls, mobile data, standby and other use.

The tests are different, so an iPhone's hours and a Pixel's hours can't be compared directly, and the site shows both without picking a winner.

Matters most if: You often run out of battery before the end of the day.

mAh (milliamp-hours) measures how much charge a battery holds, like the size of a fuel tank.

Google lists a typical capacity for each Pixel. Apple's iPhone tech specs give no capacity in mAh, so the iPhone side says "Not published by Apple". A bigger number alone does not mean longer battery life.

How many cameras are on the back. Each one has a different lens: standard, wide, or zoomed-in.

More cameras means more ways to frame a shot without walking closer or further away: fit a whole room in with the wide lens, or get a close shot of something far away with the zoom lens.

MP stands for megapixels. One megapixel is one million tiny dots. A 12 MP photo is made of 12 million dots, a 48 MP photo of 48 million dots.

On a phone screen, a 12 MP and a 48 MP photo look almost the same. The difference shows when you zoom in, crop part of the photo, or print it large: more dots means detail holds up longer. More megapixels also lets the phone zoom 2x by cropping without losing quality.

Matters most if: You crop photos, print them, or zoom in on details later.

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A second lens that sees a much wider area than the main camera.

You can fit a whole room, a tall building or a big group into one photo without stepping back. On many models it is also used for macro (very close-up) photos.

Matters most if: You take photos indoors, of landscapes, or of groups.

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A zoom lens: a separate camera that sees things far away as if you were closer.

Zooming with a real zoom lens keeps the photo sharp. Without one, the phone has to cut out part of the image, so it gets blurrier the more you zoom. It also makes portrait photos look more flattering, because you can stand further back.

Matters most if: You photograph kids' sports, concerts, pets or wildlife from a distance.

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How much the zoom lens (telephoto camera) magnifies with glass, so the photo stays sharp. 5x means things look five times bigger than with the main camera.

Only that lens is compared. Google's Super Res Zoom and Pro Zoom and Apple's "optical-quality" steps are made with processing or by cropping a high-resolution camera, not with a separate lens, so they are not counted.

Matters most if: You photograph kids' sports, concerts, pets or wildlife from a distance.

Each maker's own words for the screen: Google's names such as Actua and Super Actua, and the screen type Apple lists, such as OLED.

A name alone does not tell you which screen is brighter or sharper, so the row is marked "Different" without a winner.

How fast the phone charges with a cable. Google states how much charge you get in about 30 minutes with a charger of a given wattage (W).

Apple's iPhone tech specs describe fast charging in their own terms, with the adapter's wattage but no charging wattage for the phone itself, so the iPhone side says "Not published by Apple", and neither phone is marked as charging faster.

RAM is the phone's working memory for the apps you have open right now, measured in GB (gigabytes). It is separate from storage.

Google lists RAM for each Pixel. Apple's iPhone tech specs do not list RAM, so the iPhone side says "Not published by Apple" and the site does not estimate it.