Google just took the wraps off of the Pixel 9 series during its Made by Google event. If you were wondering, yes, all the rumors were accurate. The Pixel 9 series comes in four variants, including a foldable Pixel 9 Pro Fold. They feature a few new, exciting Gemini AI powers and cost more than you’d like. Google is throwing a few freebies your way, however, so preordering one of the four handsets might work in your favor.
Here, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Google’s new Pixel 9 series smartphone lineup.
The more pocketable Pixel 9 Pro
The Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL are the non-foldable phones of this year’s lineup. They share the same design, with Google having opted to give the Pro two different size options. According to the company, users have been asking for a more pocketable Pro model, hence the extra phone in Google’s lineup.
We saw the Pixel 9 phones in plenty of leaks, and Google’s keynote confirmed all the design rumors. The phones have metal frames with flat edges and rounded corners.
The camera bar on the back has a brand-new design. It no longer reaches the edges, with Google having settled on a camera module more similar to other handsets. However, the cameras are still arranged horizontally rather than vertically.
The three main Pixel 9 phones feature matte glass on the back and will come in four colors each: Obsidian, Porcelain, Hazel, and Roze Quartz for the Pros, and Obsidian, Porcelain, Wintergreen, and Peony for the Pixel 9.
The specs are almost identical
The phones are almost identical in terms of specs, with a few key differences. The Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL are the only ones to feature 16GB of RAM, while the Pixel 9 gets 12GB of RAM. The Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL are the only ones to feature triple-lens cameras on the back, with the Pixel 9 lacking a telephoto lens.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL is the largest of the three, featuring a 6.8-inch Super Actua OLED panel and a 5,060 mAh battery.
The Pixel 9 and 9 Pro offer the same 6.3-inch Super Actua screen with almost identical capabilities as the Pro XL. We’re looking at a variable refresh rate (1-120Hz), up to 3,000 peak brightness (2,000 nits HDR), 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 cover glass. The Pixel 9’s refresh rate goes only as low as 60Hz, and peak brightness goes up to 2,700 (peak) and 1,800 (HDR).
Also, the Pixel 9 Pro screens feature uniform bezels that are 15% thinner than last year. Under the screen, there’s a new ultrasonic fingerprint sensor that should improve the speed and reliability of Fingerprint Unlock.
All three phones offer 24+ hours of battery life with support for 45W fast charging (55% in 30 minutes) and fast wireless charging. The smaller Pixel 9 phones feature a 4,700 mAh battery.
The handsets also rock at least 128GB of storage, though the Pixel 9 only goes up to 256GB. You can buy the Pixel 9 Pros in variants going up to 1TB of built-in storage.
On the camera front, the three Pixel 9 phones feature the same 50-megapixel wide and 48-megapixel ultrawide cameras. The 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL also rock a third 48-megapixel telephoto lens that supports 5x zoom. The Pixel 9 Pros also rock 42-megapixel selfie cameras with 30% better light sensitivity. The base Pixel 9 mode has a 10.5-megapixel front-facing camera.
In addition to hardware upgrades, Google also highlighted other camera abilities, like a new low-light (Night Sight) panorama mode for the Pixel phones. Google said the Video Boost delivers the “best video on a phone.” That includes support for 8K video recording.
All Pixel 9 phones will support satellite connectivity like the iPhone. Pixel phones will come with Satellite SOS functionality that lets you reach emergency responders when there’s no Wi-Fi or cellular coverage.
The new Google Tensor G4 runs the whole show, paired with a Titan M2 co-processor. As we’ve learned from leaks, the Tensor G4 isn’t exactly the big upgrade Google might have wanted, but it should still offer great performance, including on-device Gemini AI processing.
Google said during a briefing the G4 chip will offer 20% faster web browsing and 17% faster app launching. It’ll also provide improved efficiency compared to the G3. But Google didn’t offer any benchmark details for the new chip.
Google did say the G4 offers an “industry-leading mobile output rate” for genAI features at 45 tokens/second. This should improve the speed of on-device AI processing. Also, the better and faster the on-device Gemini AI, the more private your data remains.
New Gemini AI features
Like their predecessors, the Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL will support seven years of Android, security, and Pixel Drop updates. That bump to 16GB of RAM should make it even easier for this Pixel generation to last that long. However, the phones launch with Android 14 on board rather than the expected Android 15 upgrade.
Speaking of software, the Gemini AI packages will certainly be a standout feature for Google’s Pixel 9 phones.
Gemini now works as the default assistant on Pixel 9 phones. Press the power button to access its various generative AI capabilities. The AI also works with many of your Google apps, pulling information from them to answer your prompts. Gemini’s overlay functionality lets it access the contents of your screen to provide information.
Google also introduced a few new AI tricks with the Pixel 9 series. The Pixel Camera experience has an Add Me mode that lets you add everyone in a photo, even the person taking it. There’sMagic Editor also has an Auto Frame mode to improve your shots.
The Reimagine feature lets you change the background of your photos with text prompts. Just tell the Pixel 9 phone what you’d like your background to be instead of the real thing you photographed.
Then there’s the Pixel Screenshots app, which lets you make the most of your screenshots. Gemini will process information from your screenshots on-device to help you remember information you might have wanted to save from all those instances where you took a screenshot.
The Pixel Studio app lets you generate images by telling the AI what you need. However, don’t expect them to be lifelike photos.
Gemini Live is a new functionality launching on Tuesday. It will bring a new voice-based conversational experience to the Pixel 9 phones. The feature is similar to ChatGPT’s Voice Mode, which OpenAI announced in May. You’ll need Gemini Advanced for Gemini Live.
Prices and preorder perks
All these upgrades convinced Google to bump up its Pixel 9 prices this year. The Pixel 9 will start at $799, $100 more expensive than last year. The Pixel 9 Pro starts at $999, the same price as the Pixel 8 Pro, but you get a smaller phone. The Pixel 9 Pro XL starts at $1,099.
The good news is that you’re getting a year of free access to Gemini Advanced via a Google One AI Premium Plan worth $20/month. The subscription also comes with 2TB of storage and access to Google’s best Gemini model. Since Gemini Live requires the Gemini Advanced model, you’ll get access to it for free for a year.
The Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL have an August 22nd release date.
