Google Pixel 9 Review: AI is Not Why You’ll Buy This Phone

If you watched the Made by Google event, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Pixel 9 series was mainly a vehicle for Gemini and other AI technologies. While there’s a degree of truth to this, that’s not really why you should buy one of Google’s new flagship phones. As you’ll see in our review of the base Pixel 9, it’s an iterative but mostly welcome update that delivers strong value for its $799 price.

Design: The Right Size

The Pixel 9 represents the largest design update to Google’s smartphone line since the Pixel 6. Gone are the curved sides and phone-width camera bar. In their place, you get mostly flat sides (increasingly in vogue since 2020’s iPhone 12) and an ovoid camera bump that juts directly from the back. Some people aren’t fans of this change and find it less iconic, but I’m a fan. It’s easier to grip without a case, not to mention a more upscale look.

The glossy glass back looks great whether it’s a subdued hue like my test model’s Obsidian (black) or a vibrant shade like Peony (a wonderfully bold pink). It’s slightly tougher thanks to Gorilla Glass Victus 2. If anything’s wrong with the colors, it’s that the richer hues aren’t available with the Pro models.

More importantly, Google appears to have found a size that really works. The company has experimented with different dimensions in the past few years, but the Pixel 9 sits neatly between the 7 (with a 6.3-inch screen, but larger bezels) and the 8 (with a 6.2-inch display). It’s large enough to provide a good canvas for your content, but not so large that you’ll struggle to hold it with one average-sized hand. You might have to stretch for items at the top of the screen, but that’s true of many modern phones.

Accordingly, the button layout is mostly convenient. I had to unlearn some muscle memory from other devices, but after that I could reliably and comfortably hit the power button without accidentally pressing the volume keys just below. While there’s no iPhone-style action button for shortcuts, I still love launching the camera with a double-tap of the power key.

And yes, Google has finally dropped the finicky optical fingerprint reader in favor of a faster and more consistent ultrasonic model. You no longer have to tap multiple times (or give up and enter your PIN) just to get into your phone.

There are some tradeoffs. I found the Pixel 9 slightly too narrow at times when typing with the stock keyboard during the review period. The camera bump could easily gather dust. And that rear glass is just as slippery and fingerprint-prone as it is on other phones. I’d highly recommend a case if you’re anything less than careful, and thankfully there are already good options from Google, Bellroy, Mous and others.

Display and Sound: Brighter, But Not Much Else

There’s no denying that the Pixel 9 screen is a subtle refinement at most. Beyond the size, there’s an extra 24 vertical pixels (1,080 x 2,424) compared to last year’s phone. The 9 boasts a higher 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio that, while certainly nicer than last year’s 1,000,000:1, probably won’t impact your day-to-day use. The OLED-based display was already vibrant; this is just moreso.

The brighter screen might help. Google claims a 2,700-nit peak brightness (up from 2,000 nits) and 1,800 nits for HDR (up from 1,400 nits). In practice, that translates to a display that’s somewhat easier to see in bright daylight than its predecessor. The Pixel 9 was clearly legible outdoors during the review period, even in the searing California sun. And if you’re coming from an older phone, the difference will be that much more noticeable.

Is it worth upgrading to the Pixel 9 Pro for its sharper (1,280 x 2,856) display and more battery-friendly 1-120Hz refresh rate (versus 60-120Hz)? For most people, not really. The Pixel 9’s 1080p output is still very crisp, and the lower resolution partly offsets the battery drain from the higher minimum refresh. You’re not likely to notice unless you’re very close or a stickler for fine details in photos and videos.

Don’t expect an audio upgrade from the Pixel 9. The stereo speakers are better than average, but you won’t get deep bass or a particularly rich sound. Call quality is good but not stunning. Haptics haven’t changed much either, but in this case that’s a good thing. They’re tight, distinctive, and the best I’ve felt in an Android phone.

Camera: Worthwhile Hardware Upgrades

The centerpiece of the Pixel 9 remains the camera system. Google has made some thoughtful improvements here, some of which are catch-ups but all of which contribute to a more complete package than with the 8.

Most notably, you’ll now find the same main and ultrawide cameras as on the Pro models. The 50-megapixel f/1.68 primary cam is a little bit brighter than the Pixel 8’s f/1.85 counterpart, but the 48MP f/1.7 ultrawide is both much sharper and much brighter than the 12MP f/2.2 unit from a year ago. You can snap photos with either knowing there won’t be a dramatic change in quality, and there’s a more graceful transition (if imperfect, as you’ll learn shortly) between lenses during video recording.

There’s also a new HDR+ image processing pipeline meant to improve basics like contrast, exposure, sharpening, and tone mapping. It’s meant to handle everything from shadows through to textures.

The net effect is very reliable photography. Colors appear true to life in most lighting conditions, shadows are present without being exaggerated, and it’s very hard to make the cameras blow out highlights. Skin tones for multiple ethnicities are accurate. Noise in low light appears minimal, although the ultrawide is more prone to blurring in the dark. Detail now remains fine (but not overdone) no matter what rear lens you use, although the ultrawide’s 123-degree coverage unsurprisingly distorts subjects toward the edge of the frame.

You might prefer the Pixel 9’s out-of-the-box image characteristics to the competition. Google’s color temperature is slightly cool without being devoid of color, regardless of what you’re shooting. Apple tends to produce warmer images that sometimes look better, but aren’t always accurate. And while the Pixel is great at preserving detail, it doesn’t appear to over-sharpen like you sometimes see with rivals like Samsung’s Galaxy S line. I also wouldn’t lean too heavily on Google’s vaunted Super Res Zoom scaling to overcome the absence of the 9 Pro’s telephoto lens. While the 8X max zoom is far more usable than you’d think (I could clearly read a sign across the street), there’s plenty of artifacting.

There are some quirks. Portrait mode is generally good at determining the background and maintaining subtleties like hair, but you’ll occasionally see a softness around the edges or an oddly shallow depth of field. And Night Sight, as great as it is for producing usable photos in low light, still tries too hard to brighten the scene. An iPhone lets the night be itself, even if that means letting some things stay in the darkness.

You might be willing to tolerate those old habits given a long overdue selfie camera upgrade. The front cam on the Pixel 9 continues to use a 10.5MP sensor with an f/2.2 lens, but it finally has autofocus. You no longer have to risk an out-of-focus photo because you weren’t sitting in the camera’s sweet spot. No, it’s not as sharp or group-friendly as the 42MP, 103-degree camera on the 9 Pro, but you probably won’t mind it for a social media post or video call.

Video capture is also a selling point. You can record 4K footage up to 60 frames per second (30FPS with HDR) from any camera, and the stabilization is smooth even when taking a stroll. The color fidelity and other advantages from still shots generally apply here. Lens transitions mid-video still aren’t quite there, though. As much as the much-improved ultrawide helps Google maintain the quality, there’s still a slightly jarring switch in position.

Capturing a video also underscores one of the sacrifices you’ll make by skipping the Pro line, however. You don’t get Video Boost (including the upcoming 8K scaling) or Night Sight Video. These won’t make a case for the Pixel 9 by themselves, as my videos still looked great during my review, but it’s worth noting if you regularly record clips.

Even so, the camera tweaks are enough that there’s less reason to buy the Pixel 9 Pro over the standard device. You’ll get that higher-res selfie camera, a 5X telephoto lens and Video Boost with 8K, but those won’t necessarily matter if you’re just taking everyday pictures. For the most part, the regular Pixel 9 is more than good enough.

AI Image Editing: Not Always the Solution

A discussion of the Pixel 9’s photography wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the AI editing updates. While you could already manipulate shots on the Pixel 8 series, the 9 takes that a step further with a few new tools that raise questions about the use of generative AI in photography.

The signature new feature, Add Me, uses a mix of augmented reality and AI to insert you into a group shot. You snap a base photo, ask someone else to hold the phone, and have them take a second shot that’s used to create a composite. It’s helpful for those times when there’s simply? no way to include everyone without asking a stranger for help, and it usually works so long as you provide a reasonable amount of space for yourself in the shot. With that said, it requires quite a bit of work versus taking a selfie — you might only use this a handful of times. It’s not something that should heavily influence your buying decision.

Auto Frame is potentially more practical. It uses a generative fill to recompose your shot if it’s tilted, too close, or otherwise less than ideal. I enjoyed using it, but only in circumstances when it was relatively easy for the AI to fill in the blanks. As with many image generators, Auto Frame has trouble with text and some other human-made objects. It stretched out a San Francisco trolley car with gibberish writing, for example. I’d mainly use this to salvage near-unusable pictures.

Magic Editor’s ability to rethink photo elements with a “reimagine” prompt has its own concerns. It’s fine if you’re looking for a fantastical look, such as a more dramatic skyline or flooding San Francisco’s streets, but it’s also easy to see people abusing this to make a dull vacation look exciting. While I wouldn’t want to dissuade anyone who uses this AI editing in a responsible way (clearly identifying manipulated images, for example), it’s not a plus for the Pixel 9 if you want snapshots to reflect what you really saw.

Performance and Battery Life: Raw Speed Isn’t Everything

If you’re looking for a major leap in speed with the Pixel 9, you won’t find it. The Tensor G4 is another Samsung Exynos-based chip, with the iterative gains you’d expect. That bore out in my testing. In synthetic Geekbench 6 tests it was only slightly ahead of a Pixel 8 with a 1,695 single-core CPU score (versus 1,538) and a 3,995 multi-core score (compared to 3,848). Graphics were more impressive, racking up a 6,457 OpenCL score while the older phone managed 5,318. For contrast, a Galaxy S24 gets 1,960 in the single-core test and a whopping 6,358 for multi-core.

Google claims some more practical improvements over the Tensor G3, such as 20% faster web browsing, 17% faster app launches, and more efficient media capture and YouTube streaming. In real life, those speedups are hard to notice. Browsing and app launches were already pretty quick. If you have a Pixel 7 or any other two-year-old flagship phone, I wouldn’t rush to upgrade just for the computational power, even with 12GB of RAM on tap instead of 8GB.

That’s particularly true for gaming. The Pixel 9 was more than up to the job for most gameplay in my review sessions, but it reached its limits with particularly intensive games. Genshin Impact, an online action RPG that frequently strains smartphones, couldn’t run at more than 30FPS at High detail where recent iPhones and some Android flagships can push to Highest detail, 60FPS, or both. The game still looks great at the more modest settings, but I wouldn’t count on future blockbuster games faring all that well.

However, I also found myself asking whether or not I actually needed all that headroom. In day-to-day use, the latest Pixel was incredibly responsive and more than up to the job in every other category. And when Google talks about the Tensor G4 being useful for on-device AI, it’s not kidding. The Pixel Studio image generator (more on that shortly) uses a mix of on-device processing and the Imagen 3 cloud model to create from-scratch pictures relatively quickly, while Pixel Weather uses Gemini Nano to rapidly produce summaries. If you’ve ever twiddled your thumbs waiting for a cloud-only AI model, you’ll know why this is important. I just wish the G4 could handle more; you’re still going to be leaning heavily on the cloud, and that’s not much help if you’re pressed for time or live with spotty connectivity.

There’s no ambiguity surrounding battery life. The Pixel 9 has a 4,700mAh battery versus the 4,575mAh from before, and combined with the Tensor G4’s efficiency leads to a phone that can comfortably last a full day of moderate use, including plenty of photography, social media, web browsing, and video playback. Given that the Pixel 8 sometimes struggles to reach the end of the day, this could be reassuring. Google defaults the screen to 60Hz to maximize your runtime, but I didn’t see a huge hit from enabling 120Hz (search for “Smooth Display”). It’s usually worth the tradeoff for the fluid visuals.

Charging lags behind some of the competition. You’re capped at 27W for wired charging, and 15W wireless with no Qi2 support for MagSafe-like convenience (some third-party cases add basic MagSafe compatibility). Although that’s still quick enough most of the time, it pales next to the 45W wired charging of the Galaxy S24, let alone the 80W of the OnePlus 12. It’s a good thing that Google has a 100-hour Extreme Battery Saver mode (previous models stopped at 72 hours), as you might need it if you only have a few minutes to recharge.

Software: An AI Layer On A Familiar Experience

AI is, ostensibly, the reason you’re here. Google made much fuss over the technology at the Pixel 9 event and in its marketing material, and it’s hard to completely escape on the phone itself. Gemini is your default assistant, handling text, image, and voice requests that are aware of what’s happening on screen. You can watch a cooking video and get the ingredients for your shopping list, for instance. If you were waiting for some of Apple Intelligence’s features, they’re already here — but you also don’t need a Pixel 9 for them, as the Gemini app works on other phones.

Some features are more helpful than others. Pixel Studio lets you create AI-generated images from scratch, but I only really felt compelled to use it for funny replies in Messages. Pixel Weather is a bit better, as its AI weather reports do a good job of summarizing the forecast without making you scroll through hourly charts. Call Notes can help you sift through voice conversations, at least so long as other callers are comfortable with you getting text transcripts.

I enjoyed using Pixel Screenshots, a feature that can search through the content from screen captures. The people calling it Android’s equivalent to Windows 11’s Recall aren’t entirely accurate. Microsoft’s approach automatically produces data snapshots at regular intervals. Here, you have to intentionally grab screens. That requires more work, but it was a treat to take screenshots knowing I could fetch info later. Yes, this is a not-so-subtle way to boost Google One storage upgrades for Android users, but it’s appreciated all the same.

Gemini Live is also superb in some circumstances, although it’s not quite the decisive blow to Apple that you might think. Think of it as a more immediately useful take on Open AI’s GPT-4o: you can hold flowing conversations with Gemini that include interruptions, natural-sounding language, and intelligent follow-ups. When it works well, it feels like you’re talking to Star Trek’s computer; it gets the gist of what you want without requiring robotic phrases or taking turns. If that represented the future of mobile AI helpers, I’d say Siri, Alexa, and ChatGPT were in trouble.

There are some catches, though. Gemini Live has a tendency to keep going unless you interrupt, and it’s more useful as a brainstorming buddy than as a one-and-done answer system. And importantly, you need a $20 per month Gemini Advanced subscription to even try it. That’s not an immediate issue when Pixel 9 phones come with a free year of Advanced (everyone else gets a trial), but I can see many people deciding that Live isn’t worth an extra outlay.

I’d add that some of Google’s touted AI features aren’t ready yet. Gemini Live doesn’t work with images on launch. Gemini extensions for Calendar, Keep, Tasks, Utilities and YouTube Music? Due in the “coming weeks.” You’re not necessarily waiting until 2025 like you might with Apple Intelligence, but you’re partly buying the Pixel on the promise of what’s possible, not what it can do straight away.

As it is, the Pixel 9 doesn’t bring much more to the table software-wise. In a first for Google, this Pixel line isn’t shipping with this year’s version of Android; it’s using Android 14. Although that situation won’t last long (Android 15 was nearing completion as of this writing), you’re not immediately sitting on the bleeding edge like you did in years past. And like with earlier Pixels, you’re getting a comparatively no-frills Google experience rather than a heavily customized interface like Samsung’s One UI or Xiaomi’s HyperOS.

Whether or not you like it is a matter of personal taste. Some people crave “pure” Android like this, where simplicity and the official interface are everything. Others love the shortcuts and enhanced apps that sometimes come with third-party front ends. There are no complaints about after-sale updates, at least. Google promises seven years of OS updates, so the Pixel 9 will likely stay current well past a phone’s typical lifespan.

Pixel 9 vs. the Competition: Galaxy S24, iPhone 15, iPhone 16, and More

The value equation for the Pixel 9 remains much like it was for the previous model. You’re trading absolute performance for outstanding cameras and Google’s exclusive software perks.

In that light, the Pixel 9 mostly makes a good case for itself. There’s no question that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (in the Galaxy S24 and OnePlus 12) and Apple’s A16 (in the iPhone 15) run circles around the processing power of the Tensor G4, but Google’s chip does the job. And more importantly, Google has tackled weaknesses like the fingerprint reader, battery life, and ultrawide camera resolution. You don’t get a telephoto lens like you do with some similarly-priced Android phones, and you won’t find a 1440p display or super-fast charging. But the overall package is now robust enough that it’s easier to gloss over those omissions if you prioritize camera output or Google’s exclusive software features.

Having said this, that missing hardware might be compelling given that Google no longer has the price advantage it once did. Even Google’s AI sharpening can’t completely make up for the lack of optical zoom. Many people still consider $799 a lot to spend on a phone, and with 128GB of non-expandable storage you might feel shortchanged in terms of raw specs. This might even persuade you to buy mid-range phones like the Pixel 8a or Galaxy A55. You’ll get many of the features (likely including Gemini), reasonable performance, and a still-solid camera array for hundreds less.

One thing’s for sure: if software isn’t a factor, the Pixel 9 trounces the iPhone 15 it competes against as of August 2024. It’s not as fast, but it has a 120Hz always-on display that requires buying a Pro model in iPhone land. You also get a higher-resolution ultrawide camera, and AI features that won’t even be an option on the iPhone (Apple Intelligence needs at least an iPhone 15 Pro).

The gotcha, as you might have guessed, is that the iPhone 15 won’t be Apple’s main challenger for long. The iPhone 16 is expected to launch in September, and could include an AI-ready A18 chip, camera upgrades, and a dedicated Action Button. Google might still have a few advantages, such as the 120Hz display and sharper ultrawide, but the Pixel 9 could represent a tougher sell in just a few weeks’ time.

The Bottom Line

Is Google overselling AI on the Pixel 9? Yes. To a degree, it has to if it’s going to draw customers. As much as the company wants you to hold deep conversations with Gemini Live and create outlandish pictures with Magic Editor, you’re realistically going to use your phone the way you usually do: checking your social apps, taking ordinary photos, and playing media. Don’t buy the Pixel 9 based primarily on the AI promises, as you might come away disappointed.

Thankfully, the phone is worthwhile even if you never touch the new AI features. Simply speaking, the Pixel 9 is a great all-rounder. It provides consistently good performance and camera quality, and fixes flaws that drove some would-be buyers to Apple and Samsung. If you’ve skipped Pixels for years because of quirky design traits, short battery life, or odd camera choices, it’s worth a revisit. I know I’d be comfortable switching to a Pixel 9, and that’s saying something when I previously thought an S24 would be a better choice

If anything, the greatest threat to the Pixel 9 might be its Pro sibling. The $200 extra gets you a telephoto lens, a 42MP selfie camera, a slightly improved display, and more RAM. That’s not including coming-soon features like cloud-based 8K video upscaling. If you’re serious about mobile photography, it’s the obvious choice. But the regular 9 is more than good enough for many people, and you might even wonder if you need the Pro at all.