Three things I love (and two I HATE) about the Pixel 9 Pro

Opinion: Google’s freshly launched Pixel 9/Pixel 9 Pro/Pixel 9 Pro Fold have a lot going for them… and just a couple of downsides too.

As leaked just about everywhere (and no doubt, all across the Internet by the time you’re reading this, because embargoes are like that, dear reader, if you want a good news-centric rundown of the line, Pickr has it nicely covered), Google’s announced new hardware coming soon to replace the Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.

I’m not going to just blithely repeat spec sheets (though I’ll drop the official ones below for anyone curious to read them, because I like specs too), and this is not a review of the phone itself.

While I did have some limited time with the new phones, Pixel Buds Pro 2 and Google Pixel Watch 3 at a media briefing in Sydney ahead of the launch, it was nowhere near enough time to form any kind of real and valuable opinion.

Plus, with full disclosure in mind, there are embargoes on reviews too, though I won’t be pushing to get a review out the door just because.

Expect reviews in a little while, because I would much rather do a review properly than just be part of a foolish gold rush. But I digress…

There are some details around the new phones and devices that do really thrill me – and a couple that don’t. Let’s dive into it, shall we?

Pixel 9/Pixel 9 Pro/Pixel 9 Pro XL/Pixel 9 Pro Fold: Early upsides

1. Size matters

   
   I love that there’s a lot of size choice across Pixel devices this year. OK, maybe not with the Pixel Buds Pro 2 (unless ear tips count?), but you’ve got the entry level Pixel 9, then the Pixel 9 Pro… and then the Pixel 9 Pro XL.

   While the Pixel 9 does slice down a few features – most notably in the camera space – the only functional differences between the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL are screen size and battery capacity.

   I love that, because there’s something to be said for having a smaller more powerful device, especially as a camera, because it’s easier to hold and more accurately frame shots that way.

   But of course, the size news doesn’t stop there, with multiple sizes of the Pixel Watch 3 – that’s largely a style play, though if you do have a Pixel Watch already you’d have to buy new bands for it – and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

   OK, that’s a terrible name, Google, but the big thing here is that it is coming to Australia, albeit not until the 2nd of September.

   The original Pixel Fold never officially saw light of day here, and I’m 100% someone who likes the “fold” form factor if we’re talking foldable phones.

   To date, the only company to take the challenge to Samsung locally has been Huawei, and well… yeah, that didn’t go well. I’m very keen to see what it can do, even if I can’t compare it to the performance of the original Pixel Fold.

2. Cameras aren’t just AI

   
   For the longest time, Google insisted that all it needed on a Pixel was a simple lens because AI could do so very much to improve regular consumer photos.

   It wasn’t 100% wrong there; what early Pixels could do with limited camera hardware was pretty spectacular at the time… but it was still limited by the creative flexibility of only having singular rear lenses.

   These aren’t the first Pixels to have multiple rear lenses of course, but the uptick in camera sensor quality shows how Google’s learning that you can have both AI and nice camera hardware features in the one phone.

   Even the base level Pixel 9 gets an upgrade here with a 48MP sensor compared to the 12MP ultrawide on the Pixel 8.

3. Pixel Screenshots seems neat

   
   Yes, even in media briefings the phones are on those weird security plug things. I don’t know why…

   It might seem weird to point out just one of the new AI features and have it be the screenshot one, but I 100% can see it being useful in my workflow.

   Pixel Screenshots uses on-device AI to recognise information on screenshots so it’s easily searchable later on – and I can totally see that being a boon, especially as it’s a baked in feature, not one that you’ll have to pay extra for.

Then (and remember, this is early days, review will come at an appropriate time, etc, etc…) there’s the details around the Pixel 9/Pixel 9 Pro/Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro Fold that I’m… less keen on.

Pixel 9/Pixel 9 Pro/Pixel 9 Pro XL/Pixel 9 Pro Fold: Early downsides

1. 1. Welcome to the era of subscription phones, leave your credit card details at the door

      
      Of course, the big push from Google for the Pixel 9/Pro/Pro XL and Pro Fold is around its Gemini AI, and the features that can save you time via its Gemini Advanced platform. My issue here is one of cost, because outside of the promotional freebie period, Google’s current pricing for Gemini Advanced runs to $32.99.

      That’s not per year – that’s per month.

      Sure, you do also get 2TB of Google Cloud storage with that, and I appreciate that the server cost of running all of this does mount up… but it does also make me worry about where smartphones head from here.

      Apple’s also on the same path with “Apple Intelligence”, and it appears credible that it’ll charge about the same (or maybe more) for its AI services when they become available to new iPhones.

      Offsetting work to AI might work for some, but it’s got to be awfully tempting for phone makers to start baking more and more “features” into “AI” such that phones become less useful without those rolling subscriptions – which is exactly what you see out of the likes of Adobe Creative Cloud or Microsoft Office these days.

      I’m not sure that’s going to be a good deal for consumers.

   2. All the features we didn’t get

      
      There are some features that aren’t in the Pixel 9/Pro/XL/Pro Fold… and not all of them are really “wishlist” kind of features, either.

      On the charging front, wireless charging is supported, but it’s original slower Qi, not Qi2, which basically means that while the charging hardware totally exists now, the only Qi2 phones we’ll see this year will be iPhones, not Android phones. Maybe next year. Sigh.

      On the camera front, while I could wish for the return of the dual front selfie cameras that older Pixels had (great for group selfies), the more mystifying omission in camera terms is on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. It’s Google’s most expensive Pixel phone ever… and yet it doesn’t have the same camera chops as the Pixel 9 Pro/XL phones.

      I would presume that’s down to the way a folding phone is built, but then the very first generation of Samsung’s Galaxy Fold actually had the best cameras to that date on it. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is running on the same internal Tensor G4 hardware, the same RAM… and yet you don’t get the best cameras Google’s got despite spending more.

      On the storage front, the Pro 9/XL models have 1TB variants… but it appears the 1TB variant of the Pixel Pro 9 won’t be sold here in Australia. Pixel phones have always been sealed storage devices, and while I can’t imagine the 1TB version would be inexpensive, it’s not nice to be denied the opportunity to buy it.

      Then there’s the question of network support.

      The new Pixels are 5G phones, and prior Pixel Pro models have been the only phones you could buy in Australia with full 5G mmWave support.

      Samsung and Apple could have made mmWave compatible Galaxy phones and iPhones – but they didn’t. Only Google did… but the tense is deliberate there, because guess what the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL don’t have?

       

      Update: Turns out the 9 Pro Fold does have mmWave, which is even more odd. Yep, no mmWave for Australian users any more.

      No mmWave for anyone using a 9 Pro or 9 Pro XL outside the US, as per Google’s specifications.

      Fun fact: For each of the new Pixel Pro/XLs there are five variants; the US ones (full Sub-6Ghz/mmWave) and then specific Sub-6Ghz only models for Japan, France, Belgium (if I’m reading that country code right) and then a “Rest of World” Pixel 9 Pro/XL phone variant, which is what we’ll see here in Australia.

      While it’s true that mmWave coverage in Australia is meagre, it’s not non-existent. I railed against Google for pricing the Pixel 8a higher here in Australia, so we were paying more for a phone, so it seems only fair to also rail against it for selling a phone here that’s less capable than one they sell overseas, even if it’s only in the one market.

      Google Australia’s response to this when I pressed them about it was that they were matching market needs, but that doesn’t sit well with me.

      The reality here is that it’s saving what’s probably only a few cents per phone by omitting the mmWave network components.

      Which means that the best non-folding Android phone with full 5G support in Australia right now is, weirdly, the Google Pixel 8 Pro. Aren’t newer phones meant to be better than the older ones?

I did promise those who like comparisons a specs table, didn’t I? Here you go: