The Google Pixel series has consistently ranked among the best smartphones we’ve tested, but they’ve been a bit samey over the past few generations. That all changes with this year’s Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro — and we’re not just talking about those snazzy new designs.
Sporting a freshly overhauled look (complete with a new XL size) and packed full of AI features, 2024’s range of Pixel phones are looking like some of Google’s best yet. Wondering if you should hit the preorder button? Here’s what we think after a few hours of early hands-on time ahead of the Pixel 9’s Aug. 22 release date.
The Google Pixel 9 sports a stunning new design, a versatile camera and tons of AI tricks for help with everything from editing photos to finding the perfect recipe. Both Amazon and Best Buy are offering up to $200 in gift card credit with preorders.
The Pixel 9 Pro packs all the perks of the Pixel 9 while tacking on a more advanced camera setup and a much-welcomed XL option for big-phone fans. Like with the standard Pixel 9, you can score a free gift card if you preorder at Amazon and Best Buy.
A slicker design with a long-awaited XL option
The Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro mark the most significant redesign we’ve seen for Google’s flagship phones in years, with an all-new look that makes them feel like true premium contenders rather than the cooler, cheaper cousins of the smartphone world.
I was immediately drawn to the phones’ curvy new camera bump, which, while still massive, is a lot more attractive than the thick camera bar that engulfed the back of the last few Pixel phones. Both new phones sport glass backs and flat edges that are more than reminiscent of recent iPhones, with the Pixel 9 sporting a glossy rear panel and matte edges, and the Pixel 9 Pro rocking the opposite. Both phones looked and felt great, but I was much more partial to the 9 Pro and its matte frame; the regular Pixel 9 was quick to pick up fingerprints, even in my short demo time.
Google typically crushes it with its color selections, and this year is no different. The Pixel 9 and 9 Pro both come in Obsidian and Porcelain (Google’s black and white) as well as different variations of pink and green on each phone. While the Peony and Wintergreen Pixel 9 models have a much brighter pop than their Rose Quartz and Hazel Pixel 9 Pro counterparts, I’m still happy to see a nice range of colors for both the standard and Pro models, especially since Apple tends to save its most fun hues for the former.
Regardless of what color Pixel 9 Pro you go for, you’ll finally have the opportunity to supersize it. The Pixel 9 Pro XL joins the lineup this year with a nice big 6.8-inch Super Actua (i.e. super-bright) OLED display, perfect for folks who need more space for scrolling TikTok and binging movies than what the 9 Pro’s 6.3-inch screen provides. The larger Pixel still felt plenty comfortable to hold in my brief hands-on time, and Google’s typically great OLED displays gave a nice pop to the yellow and red spandex of the “Deadpool & Wolverine” trailer.
This is the first time there’s been an XL Pixel phone since 2019’s Pixel 4, and it gives Google an answer to rivals like the Galaxy S24+ (6.7 inches), Galaxy S24 Ultra (6.8 inches) and iPhone 15 Pro (6.7 inches). And while sibling phones like the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max vary a bit when it comes to storage options and camera capabilities, the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro XL promise to offer the same exact feature set regardless of your size preference.
The most AI-packed Google Pixel yet
You can’t release a tech product in 2024 without filling it to the brim with AI features, but Google’s been playing this game for years. As such, many of the Pixel 9 Pro’s artificial intelligence capabilities offer potentially useful and fun evolutions on what we’ve seen in the past while introducing some interesting — and eerily futuristic — ways to get help from Google’s virtual assistant.
Pretty much every device out there has access to Google Gemini (the company’s chatbot that can do everything from offer recipe ideas to generate entire images for you), but Pixel 9 series owners get exclusive access to Gemini Live. As its name suggests, this tool lets you have natural, real-time conversations with Gemini instead of simply typing a prompt and getting an answer.
It was pretty wild to witness in action. A Google rep asked Gemini for some healthy breakfast ideas, which led to an eerily organic back-and-forth in which the assistant was able to field follow-up questions and even pivot when the speaker interrupted it. While I was a bit unsettled by how human Gemini Live’s voice sounded (you’ll have 10 different voices to choose from), this does seem like a potentially time-saving feature that could save you from having to type or speak a bunch of different prompts to get you what you need.
I’m not the biggest fan of generative AI imagery, but Google’s Pixel Studio looks like one of the most capable takes on this kind of tool I’ve seen. I asked it to show me a French bulldog playing basketball in New York City, and within seconds, it spat out an image that could easily have been mistaken for a real photo at first glance. Impressively, the app was just as quick to make new variations on this prompt, pumping out anime, 8-bit and vintage-looking versions of this hypothetical baller dog in the blink of an eye. What sets Pixel Studio apart from other AI image makers is the amount of editing you can do after the fact, whether it’s applying text for the perfect meme or turning part of your photo into a sticker that you can easily share with friends. I’ll still take hand-drawn art over this stuff any day (to Google’s credit, any AI-generated or AI-edited photos will be properly marked as such), but Pixel Studio seems like a decent enough way to send silly images to friends, and is a nice showpiece for just how capable the Pixel 9’s Tensor G4 processor is.
Promising cameras with some wild (and potentially divisive) smarts
The camera hardware on these phones is promising on paper — the Pixel 9 packs a 50-megapixel wide camera with a 48-megapixel ultrawide shooter, while the Pixel 9 Pro adds a 48-megapixel telephoto lens on top of that for up to 30x zoom. The Pro phone also promises Google’s best selfie camera ever, with a whopping 42-megapixel lens up front that took some sharp self-portraits of my big bald head during my demo time.
But as always, it’s Google’s bevy of AI-powered software tricks that really bring its photos to life — and in some cases, change them into something else entirely.
Have you ever wanted to take a photo with a friend but didn’t want to settle for a selfie or ask a stranger for help taking it? The new Add Me feature aims to solve that problem by creating a composite of multiple photos that look like a legitimate group shot. It’s pretty straightforward: One person takes a photo of the other, and then they switch places. The second photographer then sees an augmented reality overlay of where their pal stood, so that they can frame the shot as naturally as possible (the camera app also guides you, so getting the right angle is pretty easy).
The results were wild. I took separate photos with two different Google reps that Add Me turned into a single shot of the three of us, and the resulting image looked like we were all legitimately all in the same place at once. I’m not sold on the usefulness of this feature. It certainly takes longer than just asking someone to take a photo for you, and there’s something eerie to me about a group photo that never truly was. Still, the tech is incredibly impressive, and if you and your pals find yourself alone in the wilderness or just really hate talking to strangers (which, fair), it could come in handy.
Google’s Magic Editor has been around for a while to help you delete or modify objects in a photo, but now it lets you turn them on their heads with the new Reimagine tool. During my demo time, I watched a Google rep highlight a stretch of highway and turn it into a river, and later was able to do the inverse by turning the waters of Chelsea Piers into a road. It was an amusing enough distraction, though like with a lot of these things, I’m personally not sure how much time I’d spend playing around with it.
The Pixel Buds Pro 2 look like a perfect Pixel 9 pairing
Joining the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Pixel Watch 3 will be the all-new Pixel Buds Pro 2, which promise to bring some notable upgrades to Google’s high-end earbuds. Their shaved-down size and a new twist-to-adjust mechanism should make them even more comfortable than the OG Pixel Buds Pro, and with a Tensor A1 chip packed inside, you can expect better noise cancellation and calling (the latter of which we found lacking on the older model).
The Buds Pro 2’s no-nonsense design hasn’t changed a ton from the previous generation, but they looked nice in person, especially since there’s a color to match pretty much every Pixel 9 phone and Pixel Watch 3 strap. As with the rest of Google’s new lineup, we’re eager to take these buds through our day-to-day to see how they stack up to the likes of the AirPods Pro 2 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.
The takeaway
After years of great but predictable phones from Google, the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro look like a much-needed shakeup that could have a decent chance of swaying the iPhone and Galaxy loyalists of the world. Their new designs are the best we’ve ever seen on a Pixel, complete with the return of an XL option for folks who like their phones big and beautiful. Couple that with some gorgeous OLED displays, a fast Tensor G4 chip and promising cameras with lots of AI tricks, and you have what could be some serious contenders for the best smartphone crown — and ones that arrive just ahead of next month’s new iPhones. We can’t wait to put the Pixel 9 range through its full paces to see if it lives up to that title, so stay tuned for more.