Google’s Pixel 9: A New Era of Design, Hardware, and AI Features
Google has finally launched its latest flagship phones, earlier than usual, flaunting new design, hardware, and even more AI features than last time around. The lineup now consists of four devices – the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold. For the first time, consumers in India will be able to buy all four handsets.
I’ve had the chance to use the smaller Pixel 9, priced at Rs. 79,999, for a couple of days now, and I’m excited to share what’s new with the base Pixel. The phone boasts a new design, with flat sides like an iPhone 15 or Samsung Galaxy S24, a pill-shaped camera bar that sits horizontally across the rear panel, and uniform front bezels. Despite the new design, you can still tell it’s a Pixel from afar. The phone also features Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection, both front and back, and retains the IP68 rating from last year’s model.
The display on the Pixel 9 is brighter and has uniform bezels all around, with a slightly larger 6.3-inch OLED panel featuring full-HD+ resolution and a 60 to 120Hz refresh rate. You also get an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint reader instead of the optical found in the older model. The phone is available in four colors – Porcelain, Obsidian, Peony, and Wintergreen.
The camera setup on the Pixel 9 has also seen significant upgrades, with a dual camera setup at the back featuring the same primary camera sensor as last year but with an upgraded 48-megapixel ultrawide sensor. The front camera is the same as the Pixel 8, a 10.5-megapixel sensor, but now gets auto-focus. The new camera bar reminds me of the Google search bar.
The Pixel 9 lineup is the first in recent Pixel history not to get the latest Android build at launch, but that’s because the phones also launched earlier than usual. Thanks to the Gemini Nano model running on-device, you get Android 14 out-of-the-box and a long list of AI features. The phone is powered by the new 4nm Tensor G4 chipset paired with 12GB RAM and 128GB storage. The new SoC enables a lot of the latest AI features, and I’ll be testing them thoroughly.
The phone also features new apps such as Pixel Screenshot, which lets you search for content through screenshots, and Pixel Studio, which enables you to create images from scratch. Apart from just an AI boost, Google also claims that the new SoC offers improvements in performance and efficiency. I’ll be testing the claims in my full review.
Finally, you get a slightly larger 4,700mAH battery with the new Pixel 9, but it still supports 27W fast charging as before. The phone also features wireless charging.
Google’s Pixel 9 offers some nice upgrades over last year’s Pixel 8, especially with the new ultra-wide camera, brighter display, and the Tensor G4. There are also plenty of new AI features available on the phone, and there’s a lot. However, are all of these upgrades and AI add-ons enough to justify the price hike, and can the Pixel 9 take on upcoming phones such as the iPhone 16 series? Stay tuned for the full review to find out.
