August 13th, 2024

Google Pixel 9 Pro

Google has launched the Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL, starting at $999, featuring the Gemini AI assistant, advanced photography, 8K video, sustainable design, and over 24 hours of battery life.

Read original articleLink Icon
DisappointmentSkepticismFrustration
Google Pixel 9 Pro

The Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL have been introduced as Google's most advanced smartphones, featuring the new Gemini AI assistant. The devices are available for pre-order starting at $999, with financing options. Customers can receive $200 in Google Store credit and unlock Gemini Advanced for a year, which includes access to advanced AI features and 2TB of cloud storage. The Pixel 9 Pro boasts a triple rear camera system with a 50 MP main camera, 48 MP telephoto, and 48 MP ultrawide capabilities, designed for high-quality photography, including low-light and macro shots. The video capabilities include 8K resolution and advanced stabilization features. The design emphasizes sustainability and durability, with a silky matte glass back and polished metal frame. The devices are powered by the Google Tensor G4 chip, offering high performance and a battery life exceeding 24 hours. Additional features include advanced photo editing tools, AI-driven assistance for tasks, and a bright Super Actua display. The Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL are positioned as premium devices for photography enthusiasts and users seeking cutting-edge technology.

- Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL start at $999 with financing options available.

- Features Gemini AI assistant and advanced photography capabilities.

- Offers 8K video recording and enhanced low-light performance.

- Designed with sustainability in mind and includes a durable build.

- Powered by Google Tensor G4 chip with over 24 hours of battery life.

AI: What people are saying
The comments on the Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL reveal a mix of skepticism and interest among users.
  • Many users express disappointment with the focus on AI features, feeling that core functionalities are lacking or problematic.
  • There is a notable concern about the high price point, with several commenters questioning the value compared to previous models.
  • Users are divided on the design, with some appreciating the smaller size while others criticize the aesthetics and camera bump.
  • Several comments highlight past issues with Pixel devices, such as software bugs and hardware reliability, leading to distrust in Google's quality.
  • Some users remain loyal to the Pixel brand, citing the camera quality and software updates as key reasons for their continued interest.
Link Icon 133 comments
By @chc4 - 5 months
I have negative desire to get a phone billing itself around AI and LLM features. I turn off every AI assistant feature on my existing devices, I actively don't want a phone that ties Gemini and AI photoshop even tighter into it. If Google wanted to actually improve their phones they would add basic software functionality they're still missing instead like, say, a per-app volume mixer that half the 3rd party Android phones I've used have added but is still missing from AOSP and Pixel.
By @jsheard - 5 months
There's also the obligatory non-Pro model, and a refresh of the Pixel Fold:

https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_9

https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_9_pro_fold

Usually the Pro is bigger than the non-Pro but this time they're exactly the same size, and they've added a bigger Pro XL variant.

https://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/Google-Pixel-9,Google...

The Pro and Pro XL appear to have identical specs aside from the screen size/resolution and a slightly bigger battery in the XL.

By @peapod91 - 5 months
The dominance of the negativity in these comments is noteworthy. Personally, I thought it was a exciting update with major hardware improvements, some compelling AI demos and use cases at a similar price point as the past. Top tech reviewers e.g. MKBHD has similar impressions.

Mostly just curious as to why there are ~0 positive comments here. I suspect could be:

1) anti-google HN bias - perhaps deserved? 2) it's simply more tempting/satisfying/rewarding to complain about rather than to praise big companies 3) any other ideas?

I'm guessing the 95% negative comment proportion isn't representative though so I was curious if anyone had any explanations for the HN skew

By @NotSammyHagar - 5 months
Pixel 9 also says satellite emergency support ("Satellite SOS"). Search for info gets you to https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/15254448?hl=en&...

It looks like it's coming "later this year". Lots of chatter about it, see a few details at https://www.androidauthority.com/pixel-9-satellite-sos-34676...

* apparently coming with android 15, but they are shipping android 14

* turning on satellite sos later, but this year

* us only

* free for 2 years on pixel 9 phone, but probably would cost more later?

If you go on a lot of backcountry trips, maybe you already have something like a Garmin device with paid in-reach service with texting and emergency service button - no voice support. I have this, it works well. You can do 2 way texting, also you can have your location uploaded as you travel if you wish.

By @nepger21 - 5 months
Google really needs to improve the core offering of what a phone is supposed to provide instead of using half baked AI as a selling point.

I have been using Pixel 7 for almost the past 2 years. But the amount of basic core issues are crazy. Recently,since the July update, every place where the phone cannot catch network signal, it shutdowns. And with the update, somehow i feel it cannot catch network signal as strongly. That is such a crazy thing. Last year, my friend got locked out of all his valuable pictures with Android 14 upgrade on Pixel 6.

My experience of Google is so bad with hardware that it has finally pushed me towards buying an iPhone for the very first time in my life after having been exclusive with Android OS for over 10 years.

By @taeric - 5 months
I'm kind of sad that the world seems to have given up on the smaller phones. The marketing of the masculine hand holding the larger phone is amusing to me, and I can understand wanting to have a larger screen. I do not like the amount of space these things take in my pocket, though.
By @bloggie - 5 months
"Unlock Gemini Advanced for a year on us ($239 value)"

Who thinks they are booking phone sales as AI revenue to juice the numbers?

By @summerlight - 5 months
I'm surprised that no media outlet is seriously talking about its on-device inference capability, which is the biggest next thing for LLM. Apple did a better job on its PR here, but they didn't also get all the attention that it deserves.

On-device inference improves not just its latency, this also removes a huge chunk of LLM's economical constraints from software companies. The biggest advantage of software is its marginal cost being nearly zero. LLM hasn't enjoyed this luxuries but the dynamic is going to change.

By @scottyah - 5 months
I fell for the Google Home, and it has gotten significantly worse over time. My only hypothesis is they found ways to reduce the cost of running the server-side, and it does not benefit the consumer.

My Consumer Report: Do not fall for hardware backed by software that costs the seller money to keep running.

By @mihaic - 5 months
I abhor all these phones with a glass back, that look great in the store and then everyone puts an ugly back cover on.

I'm still rocking a Pixel 5, which is actually my second Pixel 5. I really like using it without a case. It's light, small, can handle a fall without the back shattering, and I like the matte finish.

All I want is a version with more modern specs, but every manufacturer keeps optimizing for the advertising shots, and people keep falling for this. Right now the camera is the only thing tempting me to upgrade, but I'll probably wait another year.

By @kokada - 5 months
I may switch this time since they're finally offering trade-in offers here in Ireland. I like my Pixel 6, but wanted a better camera for a while (to be clear, the Pixel 6 camera is really good, especially considering the price the phone was, but I still miss things like e.g. better optical zoom), so I may get a Pixel 9 Pro.

BTW, for those talking about issues: I bought my Pixel 6 at release, and yes, I had some strange Bluetooth issues during a few months. Not anymore, and for a while the phone is solid.

Also, this is probably the first phone that I have that I don't feel the battery got worse after 2+ years of usage, maybe thanks to the Adaptive Battery. My wife iPhone 12 (that she bought around at the same time as me) already had a ok-ish battery when she bought, but nowadays the battery is just plain sucks (battery health is 87%, that doesn't explain the whole story), one of the reason that she may switch to a Pixel too. Another thing I like from my Pixel is after those 2 years, the phone still feels snappy. I know people like to say that Tensor CPUs are bad, but I never had any issues with them.

I don't like the fact that Google increased the prices though: Pixel 6 was an amazing value for EUR649, but at EUR919 the Pro looks a more interesting choice since the gap reduced between the two. I think the reason is because the Pixel a series is such an amazing value that nobody care about the normal Pixel anymore, but if anything this is Google's fault.

By @fidotron - 5 months
I don’t know how anyone could possibly trust a premium product from Google, regardless of how good the specs are. Their entire approach to QA and privacy is anti-premium.

When Google bought HTC the idea was the best of Google software and the best of HTC hardware, but we have Google level hardware and HTC level software. The glory days of the HTC One were a decade ago.

By @fsckboy - 5 months
Bit of advice I'm looking for, if my question resonates for you: I've had Pixels in the past (pretty distant past at this stage) but I generally found the experience to be too "beta" or "experimental", in that various features would not carry over to a new Pixel, and I'd have to get used to something entirely different all over again. In contrast, I've enjoyed the Samsung approach, and I love the Fold. (I also carry iphones, I like gadgets)

Should I try the Pixel Fold, might I like it? (looking for opinions from people who recognize my story; no need to tell me things like "nobody can answer that for you")

By @roughly - 5 months
I'm an iPhone guy, but - there _are_ other designs for phones, right? The squircle corners, the shiny metal band surrounding the matte back, the aqua-pill-shaped buttons, the colors - Google is a $2T company, there's gotta be an industrial designer somewhere in the building or some process for phone design that doesn't take place in Cupertino, right?
By @jph - 5 months
I love Google Pixel phones because of Google Fi for traveling; unfortunately Google Fi is facing major service downgrades/outages for travelers (including me) who go on 3+ month trips out of the US. Google Support tells me the Google Pixel 9 Pro has the same limitation. For comparison my iPhone works fine on Verizon.

The issue is now described in the Google Pixel T&C, and I hope Google will eventually offer a way to buy a Google Pixel phone and Google Fi that offers full functionality for longer trips.

Here's a link about it:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/goog...

By @denysvitali - 5 months
The keynote seems to only focus on the Pixel 9 software capabilities.

Honestly, why is this important? Aside from all the AI hype, I don't see why the event should be so focused on features that are purely software updates that will most likely propagate to other non Pixel devices.

It's just a bummer that the event focused so much on the AI features instead of the HW capabilities: probably they don't have much to show this year.

I just hope they fixed the numerous HW issues the previous Pixel devices had (e.g: overheating, radio, ...)

By @devit - 5 months
It would be nice to have some competition.

Right now basically you are forced to buy a Pixel phone, because if you don't buy an iOS or Android device you don't have apps, if you buy an iOS device you lose your freedom, and if you don't buy a Pixel phone you don't have timely updates and GrapheneOS and thus don't have an open source, frequently updated and well-engineered OS.

By @appel - 5 months
Google's trade-in estimates for the P9 Pro:

Pixel Fold (256/512): $760

Pixel 8 Pro (128/256/512/1TB): $699

Pixel 8 (128/256): $490

Pixel 7a: $300

Pixel 7 Pro (128/256/512): $540

Pixel 7 (128/256): $360

Edit: there's a complete overview of all trade in estimates in this post: https://slickdeals.net/f/17689866-buy-pixel-9-pro-or-pixel-9...

By @jjcm - 5 months
Lots of comments about the camera bump. I'm glad they at least went for a symmetrical bump so the phone lays flat rather than iPhone's "off to the left" style bump. I don't mind a non-flat phone, but at least make it symmetrical.
By @burkaman - 5 months
I've never seen a temperature sensor on a phone before, I thought that was kind of cool. Sounds like it doesn't really work though: https://www.androidcentral.com/phones/google-pixel-8-pro-the...
By @8organicbits - 5 months
What's the selling points here for upgrades? Comparing my five year old A50, I'm not seeing it. Presumably a better camera, and more RAM (why?). I felt compelled to upgrade in past years, but I feel like phone tech reached a plateau. The AI features, front and center, feel like hype. Haven't found them useful at all.
By @Rastonbury - 5 months
The previous camera bulge was questionable but this one looks horrendous
By @JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B - 5 months
I’m still bitter about my last Pixel with the stuttering display (no real-time thread for the graphics), the settings all over the place (I counted 4 different addresses for my home, and 1 was deeply hidden in their assistant), and the debug strings in UPPER_SNAKE_CASE in the Google apps, which is unacceptable for a device that is sold to everyone.
By @WuxiFingerHold - 5 months
Damn, I want this hardware.

No thanks to anything else coming from Google (Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix ...). Have you noticed how they improved their Youtube recommendations in the last year? Creepy, how well it works. Unfortunately, all this tech paired with state of the art psychological research is not used to help people, but to make them media junkies. Everything AI follows the same pattern. The tech is amazing and can be indeed helpful used the right way, but at the end of the day it's used to gather data to make us using their services more and more and to than extract money from us (mostly still via ads). Decades ago, this industry was kind of innocent. Today, they all know exactly what they do and what damage they cause in esp. younger peoples brains. Healthy kids and young people need to be creative, explore the real world, be proactive. Not muted screen zombies. The extend of emotional and general mental illness in young people is heart breaking. We all see it. They don't care.

I hate you, Google, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Amazon, TicToc ... the world was a better place without you.

By @twp - 5 months
Is it possible to buy the phone without the Gemini/AI crapware for $239 less?
By @999900000999 - 5 months
I have never been less excited for a phone.

Maybe it's the One Plus 12 I'm holding, but this is a hard pass by me.

All I want is a flagship chip, Esim support and a headphone jack. But since earbuds are almost all profit we won't see jacks coming back.

By @deepsun - 5 months
Still no dedicated fingerprint scanner, as it was in Pixel 4a :(

And it was awesome! Super-fast, tactile feeling, right under the finger, doesn't blind you at night. Cannot understand why they removed it, cost-cutting?

By @burningChrome - 5 months
This is really cool.

Now that Google is offering 5-6 years of updates, you can get a 7 or 8 loaded with Graphene OS and be good for the long haul at about half the price as when they came out.

By @etempleton - 5 months
Looks great. Really nicely designed except that camera bump is intense. I like having nice cameras on my phone, but I wish we could go back to the flush camera design. I guess they know you will put a case on it anyway.
By @microflash - 5 months
Do these phones have an upgrade to the "phone" part? My Pixel 8 Pro keeps dropping networks every few days and takes minutes to reconnect.
By @RealCodingOtaku - 5 months
One day, the pixel and the stock android will have the ability to hide the navigation pill/ gesture bar[0]. On that day, the screenshots of these products pages will be of the complete screen instead of the top half.

[0] https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/288400051

By @bfrog - 5 months
I went through many moto/samsung/google phones. Every single one sucked ass after about a year or two. Wasn't a big deal when the phones came with contract renewals. Became a major deciding factor to abandon them when I had to hand over my own cash.

If I'm paying 500+ for a device it needs to you know... last more than a few years.

By @oezi - 5 months
Can someone explain why we get 12GB and 16GB RAM in these phones, but Apple sells its MacBook Air M3 with 8GB as the starting configuration.

Shouldn't mobile phones require much less RAM?

By @cube2222 - 5 months
So, if I understand correctly this “built-in” Gemini is 100% just calling to the Gemini cloud backend?

Honestly, Apple Intelligence is looking much better than this. But I suppose it’s no wonder, I don’t think Pixels are a large market for Google, while iPhones kind of are for Apple.

By @SlavikCA - 5 months
> Video formats: HEVC (H.265), AVC (H.264)

So much for supporting Open Source AV1...

By @gloosx - 5 months
I just hate modern phones, all of them. I want an adequate one-hand screen size (~6"), a headphone jack, and an even camera bump (just so it lies flat on the table).

I love the pixel 8a, the size, curvature and camera bump seems ideal. Ofc they removed a freaking 3.5mm jack, but I can make a compromise here and buy 100 type-c to 3.5mm adapters, but I'm super disappointed with the new 9x series, they are now even more blocky and square-ish which i really don't like, plus no "a" model which is usually looking much better for me than the main one.

Does anyone know the phone which is small, has a headphone jack, even camera bump and is still buyable to this day?

By @tayo42 - 5 months
Is there a technical reason for the ai feature to be on this phone and not just like an app, or is it just limited on purpose to this phone?
By @zzleeper - 5 months
I'm still salty about my Pixel 8 dying out because of the "green screen" bug (basically, screen just progressively turns greener until it stops working). Very common according to reddit, and the ubreakitifixit guy acknowledged it's a common problem as well.

My Pixel 5a also had some shenanigans and my dad's pixel 6 as well

No idea why they don't do proper Q&A. Looks like a good phone but yet fails in ways my work iphone never has.

By @stonethrowaway - 5 months
Where did the “{our, the} most {adj} yet” marketing thing come from? I remember apple using it for a long time. Did everyone just decide to copy it? It sounds so lame to see it during every tech product announcement.
By @bityard - 5 months
Serious case of sticker shock here.

My current Android phone was free from the provider in exchange for buying around 3 months of service in advance. It is no speed demon but certainly does all of your average phone stuff just fine.

By @tlhunter - 5 months
I find it super annoying that the base model's camera doesn't offer RAW photo support. Surely this is just a software limitation since the Pro version shares two of the same cameras.
By @apatheticonion - 5 months
I'd buy this if it had USB4 that - when plugged into a dock with a monitor, keyboard and mouse - put up a complete desktop OS (preferably full fat Linux).

I could then use my phone as a thin-client for work or gaming, perhaps even experimenting with proton locally.

Apple already demonstrated that mobile hardware is capable of workstation workloads so I'd see this as a natural step forward.

Beyond that, there isn't any compelling reason to upgrade my Pixel 6a.

If I broke my 6a, I'd probably upgrade to the 7a for the better screen.

By @nblgbg - 5 months
One of the big problems with Pixel phones is their lack of thorough testing. You upgrade and suddenly you encounter strange Bluetooth issues, call problems, or other features that were working fine before but suddenly stop functioning. Tons of people will be complaining about this in forums, and you won't receive any updates to fix them for months. IMHO all Pixel phones are just developer devices and you can't seriously use them as daily drivers. Adding more AI features won't help unless they start taking their customer service seriously!
By @drewg123 - 5 months
How reliable is the Pixel fold? I jumped ship from Nexus/Pixel in 2019, and the only thing that could bring me back to Pixel would be the larger screen of the fold. But my personal experience with Nexus/Pixel quality 2010-2019 is pretty bad, and adding in the folding screen makes me think getting one is a Bad Idea.

Sadly, due to my employer, only Apple and Google are options, so none of the other folding phones are options. I wish Apple would do a fold..

By @ayoisaiah - 5 months
There's no reason to upgrade a phone more than once in five years at least for me.

I bought a an iPhone 15 Pro Max few months ago and compared it to my S10+ which I bought in 2019 and still have. There's practically no difference for regular day to day stuff, except for the camera advancements which are notable (but not night & day either).

It was only the frustrating battery life, and desire to enter the superior iPhone camera ecosystem that forced me to upgrade.

By @royal__ - 5 months
Looks like an iPhone...one of the things I like about the other pixels is the curved bezels..
By @sergiotapia - 5 months
Call summary is such a good feature. How many times has your wife snapped her fingers for you to jot something down when she's on the phone with the pediatrician? you go crazy looking for a pen or something

This is why I love my pixel. They build stuff that affects my life day to day. My biggest vote of confidence: since buying my wife a pixel, I've had zero tech support requests. it really just works.

By @MisterTea - 5 months
Does the launcher still steal an enormous amount of screen space at the top of the home screen in order to display the date? Maybe I can ask the AI...

Though seriously, just bought a pixel 8 pro for the camera as my cheap Samsung whatever camera took aeons to focus and had garbage image quality. Overall the default Google app experience is very unimpressive with frustrating quirks and pointless changes.

Though what do you expect from company where your work performance is based on feature visibility meaning useless feature creep is all that matters instead of a quality user experience. Google it's not at all about quality and will never be. AI bullshit being added is more feature visibility metrics so they will keep adding stupid crap and then turning it back on after you've disabled it because someone wants a promotion.

By @Mikho - 5 months
One should consider that Gemini will have a paid version "Gemini Advanced" [1] for phones and whenever one has a phone with free Gemini version, it will constantly be annoyingly reminding about and pushing to the paid Gemini usage. For some reason big tech decided that people want their AI assistants and force them on everybody including requesting to pay for their decision to invest in AI hardware. I really prefer not having AI, not having an AI chip in any of my devices, and not be bothered with AI intrusion into my life.

Very soon not having an AI integrated into a phone will be a very good positive differentiation for a phone or PC brand.

1. https://gemini.google/advanced/

By @cipheredStones - 5 months
My current phone, a Pixel 6 Pro, is becoming unusable due to screen flickering.* I have an unopened Pixel 8 Pro on my desk that I got for ~$700 after cashback during Prime Day last month, and I've been waiting for this launch so I could consider the possibility of returning it and getting the new model.

So far, looking at this, I can't find any differences between the 8 Pro and the 9 Pro XL that I think I'd actually notice. It would be kind of nice to get the smaller 9 Pro for the sake of my wrists, but not enough to pay an extra $400 for.

Am I missing anything? Or is this just a heavily hyped release of a tiny incremental upgrade?

*I'd be more inclined to hold this against Google and not get another Pixel if my previous phone, a Samsung flagship, hadn't died in approximately the same way after approximately the same lifespan.

By @Fire-Dragon-DoL - 5 months
I was waiting for this to figure out if i want this phone. The answer is, I'm not willing to pay $1000 CAD.

I would like a phone with 7 years of updates, that's the reality. This is so annoying because I would go to LineageOS since it keeps getting updates, contrary to manufacturers roms.

By @Daegalus - 5 months
Ugh, I can't decide what to do. I am moving to Denmark from the US on Sept 3rd.

Denmark does not have trade-in deals. But between my wife and I, we can get a whole phone free with the trade-ins in the US.

We can also do international shipping and such through forwarding services, and that would eat into the savings, but still do so.

Then there is bands. THey are almost identical, except a few here and there, and I can't find a concrete place to get info on Denmark bands (multiple sources have different info or lack of info).

Is it worth switching out and going through the hassle and getting US pixels, and just deal with the Denmark prices, and try to sell the Pixel 6s we have. It is annoying.

By @standardUser - 5 months
At this point I just want a phone that takes unbelievably amazing photos and videos under all lighting conditions and a phone that can zoom WAY the fuck out when I'm taking selfies.

I don't even pretend to know what else I'm paying for at this point. I just scan reviews until it feels like I've found a phone that will reward my $1000 (or so) with a significantly better camera. Too soon to say if these Pixels will lore me away from my S23 Ultra. Though I will say I am beyond sick and tired of Samsung's bloatware and associated problems and miss the days when I had a Pixel (or, before that, a Nexus). That, plus the fact that my S23 is almost paid off, might compel me to upgrade.

By @stare_spb - 5 months
Unfortunately, for PWM-sensitive people like me, Google hasn't taken the hint and improved its PWM rate. The Pixel 9 series utilizes 240Hz PWM dimming across the board, meaning the Pixel now has the slowest PWM rate on any major phone.

From AndroidCentral review.

By @netbioserror - 5 months
I bought a refurbished Pixel 3A for $150 and dropped Graphene on it. Has worked like a charm. Incredible 4-day battery life thanks to the absence of Google Play Services. Might move to /e/ soon now that Graphene has dropped support.
By @spankalee - 5 months
I'm very happy to see the good Pro camera setup in the smaller size. I've always gotten the non-pro Pixel, but missed the better camera. I might upgrade my Pixel 7 just because of this.
By @achow - 5 months
By @RigelKentaurus - 5 months
I don't see anything that wants me to upgrade my four-year old iPhone 12. (TBH, it's not just about these new Pixel phones; I don't know whether I will upgrade in the next 3-4 years.)

Minor rant: All of this powerful technology, and yet the examples they can come up with are always about e-commerce/shopping, photos, calendaring etc. Why can't they talk about something more fundamentally useful, like a feature that would reduce your phone usage or budget better, etc.? I guess I can dream.

By @bhhaskin - 5 months
I don't want AI on my phone, so will pass on this one.
By @modeless - 5 months
The price is higher for two reasons, I think. One, so they can offer ridiculous incentives and trade-in values and discounts all over the place right away. Sadly, this strategy probably performs better than simply lowering the price without incentives. Two, because Pixel 10 is going to be more expensive (TSMC chip, maybe Qualcomm modem?) and they're trying to move the brand upmarket in preparation.
By @blfr - 5 months
How much of a limitation is that Tensor processor? Seems like the last of its line and below the performance of other flaghship phones.
By @silexia - 5 months
I have owned a Pixel 1, Pixel 2, Pixel 6 pro.

The Pixel 6 pro has had its screen break 4x and I have to pay every time despite having the insurance. Terrible, weak screen. The phone feels cheap too. Lots of software errors now. This is the result of Google moving away from merit based hiring.

I will never buy another Google phone.

By @xedrac - 5 months
I jumped ship after they stopped using Qualcomm chips and the battery life went way down. The S24+ has been a much better phone.
By @Veuxdo - 5 months
Very telling that the first two pictures are of the camera lenses. Is that where most of the $999 price tag is going?
By @jerojero - 5 months
I like that there's a smaller "pro" model.

The Fold 2, sorry Pixel 9 Pro Fold, is the most interesting one for me but the price is too high. I've been waiting for a while for these foldables to go down in price but they still haven't.

Other than that, it's all about the "AI". Which I don't have much interest in, plus, didn't they already said last year that the Pixel 8 was "all about AI". At this point, there's no use in buying a phone to have these features when the following year your phone that's supposedly made with AI in mind is phased for for a new phone that this time around for real is the one that's "made for AI".

Eh.

By @Eumenes - 5 months
I'm happy with my Pixel 6a. Think with my previous trade-in (some older pixel), it was like $299. Gotta time things right to get the next one at a similar price point. I def don't want that Gemini stuff on there though. The cheapest new phone being $800 seems to be a step up though.
By @blackeyeblitzar - 5 months
Is there a new camera system? As I recall the physical hardware of Pixel cameras have not changed in years.
By @raviisoccupied - 5 months
It's incredible to me how much worse this web page is than a comparable Apple one. Just from a cursory glance, I've seen some late loading elements, weird and confusing pricing before I've even seen the whole phone, and a weirdly masked and slightly pixelated video.
By @seneca - 5 months
"AI" on my phone is so incredibly unappealing. I don't understand who this is for.
By @underlogic - 5 months
Wouldn't accept it as a gift after having several generations of Pixel phone. Half baked software. Also Apple has hammered Google on privacy and rightfully so. There's a 0 chance I'll use android handsets again regardless of the hardware.
By @hadlock - 5 months
I just want to put my vote in that I'm really glad they're making reasonable sized phones again. Pixel 6, 7 were oversized monstrosities. If pixel 10 is even smaller than the 8, that's fine by me
By @SideburnsOfDoom - 5 months
Do they have an Apple Airtag / Samsung SmartTag style tracking dongle, and an UWB model phone that works with it?

Phone tech specs: both models have "Ultra-Wideband chip for accurate ranging and spatial orientation"

Tracking tag: ??

Any experiences with that?

By @hwc - 5 months
I still can't justify spending more than about $500 on a phone when the perfectly good Pixel 8a is available.

I'm still using my Pixel 6a and will probably continue until it fails or the battery life gets really bad.

By @koolhead17 - 5 months
I will avoid google Pixel. Two of it's souvenirs are in my closet currently. The hardware vendor they partner with screws customers and maligns brand google.
By @hereforcomments - 5 months
I'm still on Pixel 2XL. The battery is not that good anymore but has no issues with the phone. I'd definitely not spend 1k on a phone. A Pixel 7 Pro is now a much better deal.
By @aagha - 5 months
Bring back Google Now. That's all I want from "AI": What are the things I should know about that pertain to MY life/schedule.
By @ein0p - 5 months
Nutty pricing. Google is not, and will never be, a “premium brand”.
By @JohnTHaller - 5 months
Size Clarification: The Pixel 9 Pro is a new medium size. The Pixel 9 is a direct successor to the Pixel 8 and the Pixel 9 Pro XL is a direct successor to the Pixel 8 Pro.
By @awill - 5 months
Remember when Google used to do live benchmarks showing it beat the iPhone (and even the iPad). Those were the days. Now Tensor is bottom of the pack for high-end phones.
By @blehn - 5 months
Why make two sizes and STILL make the smaller phone enormous? Apple is reportedly making the regular iPhone Pro larger as well. Baffling.
By @petabyt - 5 months
Interesting that holding down the power button will now launch AI... On my pixel 6 that currently opens up the emergency/power menu.
By @juliangmp - 5 months
Ha... I remember recommending a google pixel 6 to someone for their decent prices, but now even the non-pro model is at 800 USD...
By @acjohnson55 - 5 months
I'm holding out on my Galaxy S10+ until someone finally makes another flagship phone with an SD card slot an 3.5mm jack.
By @vicek22 - 5 months
> Plus, your phone comes with 7 years of OS and security updates.

Way to go, the 7 years of updates was the reason I bought my Pixel 8 Pro

By @jmakov - 5 months
How does GrapheneOS perform on the fold?
By @douglee650 - 5 months
It's interesting to compare Pixel vs iPhone product pages. B2B Tech vs Consumer master class.
By @dartharva - 5 months
Oof, even phones have 16GB RAM nowadays
By @jijji - 5 months
it doesn't even say the CPU speed on their spec sheet....whats the speed of the CPU? how many cores?
By @solatic - 5 months
Is there new hardware in the phone for the forehead thermometer? Any chance this comes to earlier models?
By @tuananh - 5 months
i switched back to samsung after experiencing terrible performance of the tensor chip in Pixel 8 Pro.

To be honest, it's probably not their fault though if games/apps are not optimized for that. But I can't wait around, using a flagship phone with sub-optimal performance.

By @wnevets - 5 months
These price increases for what appears to be marginal upgrades is such a splash of cold water.
By @georgeecollins - 5 months
It blows me away that people will spend $1k for a phone when there are good options for $500 or less. I will grant that Google's phone is probably the best. But in my experience the difference in quality does not correlate to the difference in price. Apple has a monopoly and they set price expectations.

Also, I think buyers think if you have a cheaper phone strangers may think you are poor. Personally I want people to think I am poorer than I am.

By @aborsy - 5 months
Is Google Pixel (with default Android, not GrapheneOS) at least as secure as iPhone?
By @prmoustache - 5 months
Those prices are bonkers.

Also why can't we have decent 5" display smartphones anymore?

By @dgan - 5 months
Someone mentioned Bender from Futurama, and now I can't unsee it
By @astrodude - 5 months
Love the camera on pixels, hopefully this one takes it to next level.
By @cogman10 - 5 months
No Qi2 is really silly. A full year to integrate this in your phone design and you punted. It's really just adding a few magnets google, come on.
By @eBombzor - 5 months
Terrible prices, rather get a iPhone 15 at this point
By @walterbell - 5 months
Is the Google Pixel Tablet going to be refreshed?
By @atum47 - 5 months
I have a pixel 8 pro and the camera is amazing
By @maxglute - 5 months
Pixels were great phones at half the price.
By @matrix87 - 5 months
why the price increase? is it really $200 better than the 8 (which already has 6 remaining years of updates)?
By @roschdal - 5 months
Why is it so big, heavy and expensive?
By @H1Supreme - 5 months
I was initially excited at the announcement of the "fold" phone, but then I saw it's effectively two phone screens, instead of one folded in half. Sigh...

I have a Pixel 3a, and it's still larger than I'd like. I realize that the market for folks who would prefer something smaller is, well, small. But, I look at the phone landscape, and I hate every one of them. I like the Pixel, because it's stock Android. I wish they would release a Pixel "Basic" or something. 5.5" screen, basic camera, no AI bullshit. Just a no-frills basic phone.

By @SXX - 5 months
Will it blend^W overheat?

That is the question.

By @varispeed - 5 months
4k still only at 60Hz. Weak.
By @stronglikedan - 5 months
I wish they'd make one to compete with Samsung Galaxy, so I could ditch the Samsung ecosystem.
By @throw0101b - 5 months
What's the policy on the length of security updates on recent Google-branded phones these days?
By @nightski - 5 months
It's so weird to me that an advertising company would sell a phone. It feels so dystopian.
By @epolanski - 5 months
Lack of proper dual sim (with two nano sims) is what made me not buy the previous gen and I guess this as well gets skipped.

It such a small feature that 200$ Xiaomi phones have and Google's flagship do not, because people in their silicon valley bubble can't understand there's many carries in the world that don't support esims properly or the issues that people that live in two countries need to face.

By @SV_BubbleTime - 5 months
80% of their “camera” features are just AI tricks.

For the size off the phone, that is sort of lame.

By @1oooqooq - 5 months
here cames the pixel 5-8 regression bugs! yay!
By @DebtDeflation - 5 months
The Pixel 10 will have a TSMC manufactured chip. I'm keeping my Pixel 6 Pro for another year.
By @figmert - 5 months
No desktop mode?
By @Geste - 5 months
Not paid, not shilling or anything, but the Light Phone 3 looks even better compared to this hill of AI-nonsense.

https://www.thelightphone.com/lightiii

By @mastergogogo - 5 months
I will buy oneplus12 and flash PixelOS into it.
By @rareitem - 5 months
Among Us
By @coin - 5 months
Other than the camera bar, the case is a blatant iPhone ripoff.
By @surfingdino - 5 months
No, thanks.
By @throwaway48476 - 5 months
Am I the only one that thinks pixels have always been ugly?
By @baggachipz - 5 months
I have to log in with a google account to view the product in their store? Kthxbye.
By @retskrad - 5 months
Most people, from a person on welfare to all celebrities and almost all CEO’s, including Elon Musk, use iPhones. The Pixel and Android in general is simply not cool like the iPhone. Google has been making their own phones for over 10 years now and they’ve barely made a dent. What’s Google’s goal here?
By @mrnaught - 5 months
Design looks almost like iPhone. Seems like the design patents have expired.
By @katzinsky - 5 months
The only thing that would make a new phone interesting is Linux support.

Otherwise email works, the web works, mms works, and the camera, screen, and RAM, on phones ten years ago was already way more than you need.

The phone specific software barely justifies maintaining a phone (and doesn't for me so I don't even own a modern smartphone.) There's certainly nothing to justify upgrading it.