Controversy isn't new to the Pixel series. It comes around every single year, in some form or another. For this generation, the biggest fuss around the Pixel 8 was its new price. It's now $100 more expensive — up from $599 to $699 — causing many prospective customers to grumble. What could possibly warrant this new value proposal? If you're reading this, you probably already have an idea. Sure, it has a new Tensor G3 chip, but the higher price can mostly be attributed to the new screen, which Google now calls an "Actua Display." With the new Pixel 8, much of its extra cost sets out to fix many of these issues, but is it enough?

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

Display hardware and overview

Thinner, faster, and brighter

I've written somewhat scathing reviews of the displays on the base model Pixel 6 and Pixel 7. Although they were offered at a generous entry price, the phones were poorly equipped with budget screens, which you'd find on cheaper phones, such as the Pixel A-series. It simply took away from the experience you should expect from a company's premium base model, and it just couldn't compete with the likes of Apple, Samsung, and OnePlus. But this year is different.

First and foremost, these new screens have finally been promoted to use a flexible substrate from the rigid glass found on the two previous phones. Using flexible polyimide reduces the thickness of the display stack, so the emissive layer can be made much closer to the cover glass. This gives the screen an inky sticker-like effect, with your fingers feeling like they are touching actual pixels.

These new screens have finally been promoted to use a flexible substrate from the rigid glass found on the two previous phones.

Moreover, using a thinner substrate refracts less light throughout the display stack, improving viewing angles. It is common for rigid OLEDs to show abrupt changes to the overall screen color at small angles, along with "rainbowing out" when viewed at its side. You won't see this effect on the Pixel 8, which uses thin polyimide. You'll instead see superb viewing angles. We did see warmer tones on our review unit at larger angles, but it's still comparable, if not superior, to even ultra-premium flagships from the past few years.

Although the optical characteristics of the screen have improved dramatically, it's not quite the cream of the crop. Compared to more high-end displays, like those found on the Pro models, the Pixel 8 doesn't mitigate reflections as strongly. So, despite having super-high brightness (which we'll cover later in more detail), the Pixel 8's reflection handling makes it appear more washed out when outdoors or in bright office lighting.

In terms of sharpness, the 428 pixels per inch on the Pixel 8 appears plenty sharp. But if you have good vision and go looking for it, there is a softness to text when viewed up close that's discernible when compared to the more dense screen on the Pro model.

Dark gray screen uniformity is also a step up from previous base models. The backplane still uses LTPS rather than hybrid oxide, so low-light pixel stability isn't as refined as it could be. Our unit showed minor streaking with some brighter regions toward the bottom of the screen (the above photo exaggerates the appearance of the imperfections).

Such defects may vary from unit to unit, and might even be influenced by which display vendor sources the screen. This year, Samsung Display and BOE sourced the OLED found on the Pixel 8, with Google now having developed its own display driver.

Upon inspection, our testing unit appeared to be equipped with a BOE panel rather than a Samsung display. Many believe these screens to be second-rate compared to Samsung Display, but from my testing, that's not really the case. These BOE panels are as good as it gets for a screen of this caliber, and I'm happy to see competition in a space that seems dominated by Korean megacorporations.

Display brightness

Surpasses expectations

By and large, the Pixel 8 display's most impressive feat is the peak luminance levels. For a full screen of white, Google claims the Actua Display can reach up to 1,400 nits, boosting all the way up to 2,000 nits for small regions of white. This is best in class for its $700 price tag, and I'm happy to find that my measurements fully support Google's claims.

From the chart above, you might have noticed that the Pixel 8 screen can actually reach 200 nits brighter than what Google advertised for its fullscreen brightness. The 1,400 nits fullscreen Google mentioned seems to apply when Smooth Display is disabled, which is by default. When enabled, the added driving rate seems to allow the Pixel 8 to reach up to 1,600 nits fullscreen, though I'm unsure if this was intentional. And for very low window sizes, we see that the screen does get very close to Google's advertised 2,000 nits.

The peak brightness values above can only be reached when auto brightness is enabled and when outdoors. If auto-brightness is enabled without too much light around, the maximum brightness is limited to 600 nits. Disabling auto-brightness, however, allows the maximum brightness to reach up to 1,000 nits, which is double the Pixel 7's maximum manual brightness, though this prevents the screen from getting up to its advertised numbers.

The Pixel 8 screen can actually reach 200 nits brighter than what Google advertised for its fullscreen brightness.

We find no change on the lower end. still reaching a minimum white level of 1.9 nits. Extra dim is a feature that can be added to your quick settings to make the screen even dimmer, if you wish.

The last 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's 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

With improvements to peak brightness, we also usually see reductions in display power for the old luminance range. Compared to the Pixel 7, the new screen on the Pixel 8 uses up to 25% less power when driving the display at its old peak of 1,000 nits. However, reaching the new peak brightness of the Pixel 8 also carries a greater power penalty, using up to 4.8 watts to hit 1,400 nits, compared to 4 watts for 1,000 nits on the Pixel 7.

We previously found that the Pixel 8 is actually able to reach 1,600 nits fullscreen, up from its advertised 1400 nits, when driving its screen at 120Hz. When this occurs, the display can use up to 5.9 watts, which is just massive for a battery cell of its size. Looking at the chart, we also notice that the power profile of the Pixel 8 screen looks almost identical to that of this year's Pro model. Although the Pixel 8 Pro has a very efficient screen compared to current flagships, it's also almost 20% greater in area than the Pixel 8, so we had hoped to see the Pixel 8 use up less power. This suggests that the luminous materials used in the base model aren't as effective as the ones found on the flagship, which is a bit of a shame given the price hike.

New to the base model is the ability to drive the display at 120Hz, which is up from 90Hz. From my testing, the display uses about 90 milliwatts more running the screen at 120Hz compared to 60Hz, equating to about 0.5% additional battery per hour when it's active (not accounting for processing). Since the backplane is still using LTPS rather than hybrid oxide, the refresh rate is adaptively modulated via a software-based dynamic refresh rate, switching between 60Hz and 120Hz depending on the screen's contents. Compared to the driver-level seamless variable refresh rate found on LTPO OLEDs, the latter can save an additional 120 milliwatts by ramping down to 1Hz. And for those sensitive to pulse-width modulation (PWM), the Pixel 8 OLED still flickers at a low frequency of 240Hz.

Grayscale and tone response

Precise in all but the darkest conditions

As usual, Google does a fantastic job with calibrating the achromatic image of its displays. A strong grayscale and tone response sets the foundation for the entire color management system, and we can extrapolate from this data much of the display's color performance.

Within the usual brightness range, the Adaptive mode on the Pixel 8 tracks the standard gamma 2.2 almost perfectly, leading to immaculate and consistent picture contrast. The white point also measures remarkably close to D65, with color errors below the humanly perceptible threshold (ΔETP < 1.0). There is little to no deviation in the tint of white or gray as it makes its way toward black; it remains very close to the white point at all brightness levels, leading to clean gradients and consistently tinted UI elements.

At its peak brightness, the Pixel 8 dramatically raises the lightness of shadows and midtones to improve the legibility of the screen when viewed under sunlight. But on the other end, at minimum brightness, it seems that Google had some difficulty calibrating for really dark tones. There is a slight dip in the curve below the 25% pixel level, where Google would usually brighten things up for more comfortable dark-room viewing. Pixels of the past have also used a flatter profile for minimum brightness, and we even see it on this year's Pro model. However, it seems that Google can't get a good foothold on it without using LTPO, and we're seeing slightly crushed shadows as a result.

On the other hand, the Natural profile, which is meant to be the Pixels' most color-accurate mode, targets a less conventional tone curve with a flatter shadow. This can make blacks look more gray, so keep this in mind when sharing or editing photos in this mode. Even with this profile, the Pixel 8 seems to struggle to control near-black tones at minimum brightness. The rest of the grayscale qualities are largely similar to the Adaptive mode, if not slightly more precise.

By taking long exposures of near-black patches, we can confirm the Pixel 8 struggles to display some of the first few steps out of black. In the Adaptive mode, the OLED struggles to display the first step even at modest display brightness levels. The lighter shadows of the Natural mode give it an inherent advantage in displaying the first few steps, though the Adaptive mode provides a much more perceptual gradation toward black.

At minimum brightness, both profiles appear to display the first patch but with compromises. Adaptive mode appears to first tint toward cyan, suggesting the red emitter is the first to fully clip toward black. Toward the second patch, the blue emitter dies out, leaving only green to render the first two patches. Natural mode can show a few patches very vividly, though at luminance levels that are much brighter than they should be.

Things look worse when driving the Pixel 8 at 120Hz. Here, almost the entire bottom row is clipped black when using Adaptive mode, and even the Natural mode can barely muster the first patch. This suggests the Pixel 8 was not factory-calibrated for its 120Hz mode, which could explain why Smooth Display comes disabled out of the box. Those who want the best color performance from the Pixel 8 should keep this in mind.

Color accuracy

Always a high-fidelity experience

Out of the box, the default Adaptive color mode provides a small boost to overall color saturation. It's not quite as vibrant as some color modes offered by other phones, and I would say it borders more on the side of color-accurate rather than over-enhanced. The colors here strike a good middle-ground, though it doesn't excel in one camp or the other. One complaint I have with this mode is that blue colors aren't boosted while reds and greens are, distorting the chroma proportions.

If, for some reason, you're serious about color grading or photo editing on the Pixel 8 or if you just want confidence that the thing you're looking at is the correct tone and hue, the Pixel 8's Natural mode has you covered.

Color errors in this mode are exceptionally low, most of which measure below the perceptibility threshold. A reference-level display should have color errors ΔETP below 3.0, and the Pixel 8 clocks in below this on average. Color errors above about 8.0 start to become noticeable at a glance, which makes it a good upper bound for maximum color errors. In this case, the Pixel 8 also gets below this, with a maximum color error of 6.7 throughout its brightness range.

We discount the color accuracy at peak brightness since boosting the intensity of colors is often the best choice in response to outdoor lighting. While other phone makers focus on turning saturation up to 11 in these conditions, Google prioritizes maximizing the lightness of the colors. From my testing, it's a more natural and effective way to combat screen glare, and Google does it without introducing too much distortion.

Color errors in this mode are exceptionally low, most of which measure below the perceptibility threshold.

The main caveat with the Natural profile remains its base tone curve, which should be using straight gamma 2.2, in my opinion. At a minimum, there should be a display setting to select between the current flatter curve, gamma 2.2, or gamma 2.4 (or BT.1886). The discrepancy in picture contrast will tower over any color differences in comparison.

Speaking of offering options, one of the most important ways to tune for color is by changing the color temperature of white. OLEDs are susceptible to a mismatch in the appearance of white, with most OLEDs on smartphones appearing more yellow-green than a similarly-calibrated LCD. Thus, it's not enough that the Pixel 8 is calibrated almost perfectly to D65. Even if it was perfect, its white point would still appear incorrect compared to a perfect broad-spectrum display. For this reason, it's important that OLED providers allow the user to change the color temperature, either through individual RGB channel adjustments or with temperature and tint sliders.

HDR performance

Excellent in the right conditions

Google is pushing true high dynamic range content now more than ever with the Pixel 8. Alongside the already-existing ability to shoot HDR-HLG videos, Pixels are now also equipped to capture Ultra HDR photos, giving highlights some added pop when viewed within supported apps. Since Android 13, the latest Pixels are also the first Android phones to properly support mixed HDR and SDR compositing, which allows HDR content to appear at the appropriate brightness without manually adjusting the system's brightness. It also means an HDR10 calibration mode is moot since HDR content will now be mapped onto the existing SDR calibration modes, regardless of whether it's a relative container (such as HLG) or absolute (HDR10). Therefore, the overall accuracy of the phone's HDR is largely tied to the normal tone mapping and color accuracy performance evaluated earlier.

Because the Pixel 8 is calibrated fantastically for SDR, its precision carries on over as the baseline for HDR. My measurements show fantastic EOTF tracking for the reference PQ curve from medium brightness to high brightness. The peak brightness of the Pixel 8 allows it to hit some of the brightest highlights offered by most films, all while maintaining the same white balance regardless of playback brightness. The grayscale tinting is similarly well-controlled, and P3 color accuracy is just as superb as it is in SDR.

Pixels are now also equipped to capture Ultra HDR photos, giving highlights some added pop when viewed within supported apps.

There are a few qualms, however. Above a certain threshold, increasing the system brightness only raises the maximum HDR10 brightness headroom, not the overall video brightness. The maximum HDR10 video brightness is limited to the reference ST2084 curve, which is meant for a dark room with dim surroundings and is similar to having an SDR white level of 100 nits. This is simply too dark to view comfortably in most places, and I hope Google rethinks this strategy.

Furthermore, Google still ignores the maximum content light level metadata embedded within HDR video. Pixel phones always tone map towards 4,000 nits, or 90% PQ, which wastes the screen's potential brightness headroom on light levels that aren't even used throughout most films. It's not as big of an issue as it used to be since the Pixel 8's peak brightness is now much higher, but moving forward, it's a crucial optimization step for content with higher light levels. Although most HDR streaming titles are still graded for a maximum luminance below 1,000 nits, some masters do get over 2,000 nits, and this is where tone mapping toward the light level attributed in the metadata is required for the best possible picture quality.

In rare conditions, some neutral colors will take on a yellow tint, approximating a color temperature of 6000K rather than 6500K. Holding on to the gesture bar immediately corrects the picture as the OS composites it with the SDR UI. Hopefully, this is a simple color management blunder that Google could fix in a future update.

Final thoughts on the Pixel 8's display

If you care even a bit about the quality of your phone's display, I'd say the $100 upcharge for the Pixel 8 is a drop in a bucket for what you're getting. Everything about this screen has seen commendable improvements through both elevated hardware and software. Seamless viewing angles, greater brightness and efficiency, smoother auto-brightness, and confident HDR performance are just a few of the nice-to-haves you'll now get. For the first time, the base Pixel finally wields a truly premium OLED that punches above its weight. You'd be hard-pressed to find any differences between the screens on the Pixel 8 and some of the best phones that cost $300+ more.

But no product is without its drawbacks. If you're particular about your shadow details, the phone struggles to reproduce the first few tones out of black when using Adaptive mode, especially when Smooth Display is turned on. If you're sensitive to the flickering caused by pulse-width modulating displays, the low 240Hz impulse rate is not for you. Or if you're truly serious about the absolute best color accuracy on your smartphone, the lack of white point balance and tone curve selection won't give you the lateral room needed for confident corrections. Oppositely, if you want the most saturated display possible, the Pixel's accurate-only color modes will look comparatively muted.

Despite it all, at this moment, I consider the display on the Pixel 8 as the best screen you'll find in its price category.