Ten months ago, Google heralded the arrival of the AI-smartphone when it launched the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. The annual update cycle has arrived early as Google presses home its advantage in the generative AI space. The new features must be in a competent phone to deliver on the latest promise.
I’ve spent the last week with the new handset to find out if Google has met those goals.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL is a hefty phone. Thanks to Google’s tweaking of the model numbers, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is the successor to the Pixel 8 Pro. Side by side, the 9 Pro XL dimensions are slightly larger than the 8 Pro, but thanks to the more angular edges and corners to increase the internal volume, the 9 Pro XL is bulkier than its predecessors.
The same is true of the iconic camera bar. Google introduced an edge-to-edge bar across the rear of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro to house the deeper camera components, making for a practical solution and a unique design. While the pill-shaped island remains unique, the extra height and the curved edge look more childlike than previous Pixel bars.
Still, it does retain one impressive feature: by being a bar rather than an offset camera island, the Pixel doesn’t rock from side to side when you use it lying on a table.
The display is bumped up from 6.7 inches to 6.8 inches. Coupled with the boxier design, there are fewer bezels on show, which gives the Pixel 9 Pro XL not just a physically larger screen but one that feels larger as well, a double win for the user. Yet the larger curved corners cut away some of the screen real estate. The balance between curves and screen doesn’t have a single answer. I prefer more right angles and fewer curves at the corners, especially as I watch a lot of video on the screen, and it’s always noticeable, but your mileage will vary.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL has three cameras at the rear: a 50-megapixel main camera, a 48-megapixel ultrawide, and a 48-megapixel telephoto. If all of that sounds familiar, you’d be right. Apart from a small tweak in the ultrawide to offer more light through the lens in exchange for a smaller sensor, these are the same specs as the Pixel 8 Pro from last year. They remain in the same league as the likes of Samsung in the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but they’re more a mid-table team than a championship contender.
I’d describe the 9 Pro XL camera as dependable. It’s not fighting to the top of the pile when taking pictures, but it’s doing enough that you won’t be disappointed when comparing it to the competition.
Which leads us nicely into one of the stronger AI points of the handset.
Google has successfully marketed the use of generative AI to improve the photography experience to the public. While many may not know they are using AI on earlier models, they know they can use Magic Eraser to tidy up and remove parts of a photo. Likewise, with Best Shot, choosing the right face from a selection of many photos to get the one that fits is something that works.
The “big ticket” for the Pixel 9 Pro XL is the Add Me feature. It lets two pictures be combined into one, so that the person taking the first picture can hand the phone over to someone in the first picture, have the phone aid you in lining up the shot in the same conditions, and then do the AI magic to bring everyone into a single picture. Think of it like taking a group shot, but then adding yourself to the line.
The other side of the artificial intelligence package is Gemini AI, and there is a lot to pick over here in the coming weeks and months, as it drives several new software features on the Pixel 9 Pro XL.
You have Gemini AI pretty much driving the Google Assistant to help with summarising text and information, as well as helping you compose notes and replies. The Reimage tool inside the photo editor shows several issues that must be addressed. Pixel Studio allows you to create the square image beloved by generative tools, all tailored to fit a specific style.
This tool allows you to edit photos through prompts and generative AI images, a wild west of potentially problematic prompts. Adding a balloon to the sky is a simple enough ask, but how about something more sinister?
Google limits the prompts you can use and the output you can generate, but with carefully worded prompts, it is possible to get past the porous guardrails that have been put in place. The prompt “Bayonet and Bugs Bunny in Military” passes Google’s checks and generates images that challenge several norms.
Google also flags up that ‘the ability to create human images is coming in the future,” and that could unlock a lot of awkward conversations and IP clashes when that element is released.
I’d suggest that it’s going to take a few months for Google to get all the kinks out of the latest AI builds—the wealth of anonymized data coming back from the user base will help with this—but it’s also going to take time for users and reviewers to move away from the initial rush to play around to the point where it can be used seamlessly in everyday life, and its impact can be measured.
Currently, Gemini AI and its various capabilities are the cutting edge of mobile generative artificial intelligence and will be the model everyone will follow over the next 12 months. I’m just not sure if everyone wants to be that far out in their apps or if AI’s background work in editing and processing is enough.
Performance-wise, Google is introducing the Tensor G4 mobile chipset with the Pixel 9 family. This chipset, designed by Google, leans heavily into making AI processing more efficient. This sacrifices overall performance, so it will fall short in a head-to-head situation with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
But does that matter? There will be a contingent of users looking to get the absolute peak performance out of their smartphones, and they’re probably best looking at some of the latest gaming smartphones. For everyone else, can the Pixel 9 family (which are all running the Tensor G4) offer a smooth experience across apps, services, AI, and general use?
I’d say it does. In use, the Pixel 9 Pro XL has a smooth feel throughout the user interview, without too many extra animations that would grate months down the line. Day-to-day use works, and, putting aside the intensive 3D first-person shooter apps, there’s enough horsepower for most apps to run successfully.
Arguably, the most intense moments are using the AI features, especially during photo editing. That does take time, and you could argue that Google gets a Hall Pass here because the average user expects AI to take time. The feedback on the Zoom and Enhance feature shows the resolution increasing, offering feedback through a lengthy process, which helps reduce the impact, but you are still measuring these intensive moments in multiple seconds.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL picks up a whopping 10 mAh of capacity over the Pixel 8 Pro, taking it to 5060 mAh. Yet the increased efficiency of the components and software optimisations have added more than an hour to the largest Pixel’s battery life. The Pixel 8 Pro comfortably made it through a working day of mixed-use, and the 9 Pro XL does that with a bit more of a buffer; alternatively, now you can do a bit of Genshin Impact over lunch, knowing you have some spare energy.
If you compare the battery to smartphones outside the Pixel family, the 9 Pro XL is still coming up short in benchmarking, just as previous years have done.
Google has compensated for this by upping the charging rate. The handset is capable of taking 37W wired and 23W wireless charging. You do need to supply your own charger as the packaging is limited to the phone, a USB-C to USB-C cable, regulatory paperwork and a SIM ejection tool. Apart from some adhesive and required stickers, the packaging is 100 percent plastic-free.
Unlike other flagships, the Pixel 9 Pro XL does not necessarily aim to be a best-seller and dominate the smartphone charts. I’m sure Google would be happy if it did, but the Pixel series has always performed the dual roles of a “standard” smartphone for consumers and as a technology demonstrator for Gogole’s partners.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL delivers on both, but it is geared more to the latter.
With the additions to Gemini and the various generative artificial intelligence coded throughout the software stack, Google has signposted the direction it is moving AI in, the direction that Android is moving in, and with a lack of competition from Apple and iOS, Google owns that direction and the Pixel 9 family in general and the Pixel 9 Pro XL specifically, is letting everyone know.
Consumers will find a phone that iterates on the successful format of previous Pixel phones, although the new ergonomics and design will likely increase its appeal. This is the future.
The 9 Pro XL is a strong foundation for the next twelve months. It does what consumers need a new smartphone to deliver, but it leaves enough room for Google’s partners to iterate on the foundation. Those handsets will arrive in late Q4 and during 2025.
Google has delivered the future. Let’s see who follows.
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