On this topic, have you watched how almost all online reviewers gives the pixel 9 excellent scores despite it having a shit cpu, is extreamly overpriced, has most of its Ai capabilities turned off in Europe, charges extreamly slow and is heavy like a brick?
The 8-series and beyond have a more power efficient CPU. Yes it's the same general design so it's not faster but it's built on a smaller node. I don't remember well but the modem might be a bit newer too and given how shit the Exynos modem is, any improvement is welcome.