Google Shows Off Pixel 9 Lineup, Plus AI Upgrades

Alphabet’s Google has this week unveiled its latest Pixel smartphones that offer improved performance coupled with advanced cameras, as well as being fully loaded with AI features.

In fact Google confirmed that the new Pixel 9 smartphones are designed to deliver the best of Google AI to the end user. The new phones are the Pixel 9, as well as a trio of Pro models, namely the Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

Alphabet’s Google highlighted the heavy integration of AI features into the new handsets, contrasting the current glaring difference with Apple’s iPhone lineup.

Apple it should be remembered is late to the AI party, and only announced its Apple Intelligence plans (thanks to OpenAI’s ChatGPT) in June this year.

Pixel 9

So what exactly are the new Pixel 9 handsets from Google?

The Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold are all powered by Google’s brand new Google Tensor G4 chip under the hood.

All three Pro devices come with 16GB of RAM while the Pixel 9 offers 12GB of RAM.

The new handsets come with a sleek new design to fit comfortably in the hand, with a matte glass back and polished metal sides, and Google claims these new phones are twice as durable as the Pixel 8.

A stand out feature of the new handsets is emphasis on the camera, with a prominent “camera bar” across the upper rear of the handset.

The Pixel 9 Pro features a 6.3 inch display, while the Pixel 9 Pro XL display is 6.8 inch. Both Feature Google’s brightest Super Actua displays (Pixel 9 is said to be 35 percent brighter than Pixel 8).

There is also a new 42 MP front camera on the Pro models for sharper and brighter selfies in low light situations (the Pixel 9 still uses a 10.5-megapixel selfie camera, but it gains autofocus for the first time).

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold meanwhile comes with a thinner design and a bigger display, as well as a “fluid-friction hinge that easily opens fully flat with a satisfying snap so you can enjoy the big, bright Super Actua Flex display.”

Size wise it is now 5.1mm thick when unfolded, compared to 5.8mm for the previous model.

It is also taller measuring 155.2mm on the long edge with a 6.3-inch outer screen.

AI features

Google has heavily touted the AI features of these new handsets, and the Pixel 9 series comes with an updated Gemini Nano model that adds multimodality so it can analyse images, speech and even text.

Of course the new handsets feature the Gemini personal AI assistant, accessible by simply pressing the power button. The user is able to use written prompts, upload images, or even speak directly to Gemini on their Pixel 9 handset.

Google said that Gemini is deeply integrated with Google apps and Android and can handle complex queries without hand-off to third-party AI providers (cough Apple cough).

Pixel now has Gemini Live, which Google says is a mobile conversational experience that lets the user have free-flowing conversations with Gemini, available to Gemini Advanced subscribers at launch.

Another new AI feature on the Pixel 9 series is a new Recall-like ability to catalogue and retrieve information from a user’s screenshots (called Pixel Screenshots).

There is a new app called Pixel Studio that uses generative AI to turn a user’s text prompts into illustrations, but it doesn’t run on-device.

But most of the AI power has been slated for photographs, with Add Me for example allowing a user to added to a group shot.

Pricing, availability

The Pixel 9 series will be the first Android phones in the United States to offer Satellite SOS, which ike Apple’s satellite emergency service, will help the user connect to emergency services when outside of conventional phone reception.

The Google Pixel 9 goes on sale on 22 August, with prices starting at $799 ($100 more than last year’s Pixel 8).

Prices for the Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL start at $999 and $1,099, respectively. The XL will ship on 22 August but the 9 Pro is slated to arrive in September.

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold will $1,799 and will ship on 4 September.