I have a problem with the Google Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL

My first response to this was destructive. At first, my take was that this can be a grasping transfer that overly complicates the Pixel line-up (to not point out giving me extra work); however, having considered it a bit extra, I can see the way it may very well be seen as helpful to shoppers. Some might want the ability of the Professional cellphone with out additionally taking onboard the unwieldy construct, so placing the advantages of the Professional mannequin right into a extra compact handset does make some sense.

To go together with that smaller body, the Pixel 9 Professional has a 6.3in OLED show, identical to the usual Pixel 9, however the decision is a sharper 1,280 x 2,856 and the dynamic refresh price has a broader vary of 1-120Hz. As a “Tremendous Actua” show, against the Pixel 9’s Actua one, it additionally will get a bit brighter, with Google claiming a peak of three,000 nits, with the  commonplace Pixel 9 topping out at 2,700 nits. Not that you just’d have the ability to inform at these lofty heights.

The Pixel 9 Professional XL’s 6.8in OLED show is generally the identical as its mini-me, with a 1-120Hz dynamic refresh price and peak brightness listed as 3,000 nits, nevertheless it has the next decision of 1,344 x  2,992. Scratch safety is similar both method, with each telephones sandwiched between two layers of Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

Rounding out our trilogy of variations is the Pixel 9 Professional XL’s 5,060mAh battery, which is greater than the 4,700mAh cell utilized by each the Pixel 9 and the Pixel 9 Professional, in addition to a tiny bit greater than the Pixel 8 Professional’s 5,050mAh battery. Charging speeds aren’t explicitly outlined within the press launch however the Pixel 9 Professional will apparently hit about 55% battery life after half-hour on cost and the 9 Professional XL will hit round 70% – each of these are apparently based mostly on charging with a 45W Google charger, which as soon as once more isn’t included within the field.

That’s it for the key variations, so let’s get into shared options. Battery apart, each telephones include the identical inner {hardware}, with the most recent Google Tensor G4 chipset supported by a large 16GB of RAM and your selection of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB or, for the primary time, 1TB of onboard cupboard space.

Each Professionals additionally get precisely the identical digicam {hardware}, and it’s right here that I discover my first actual drawback with the Pixel 9 collection. The rear cameras have been reorganised into a large oval housing that doesn’t fairly meet the perimeters of the cellphone, changing the enduring – and, in my view, cleaner – full-width bar. This looks like a design change for the sake of differentiation to me and it finally ends up wanting a bit extra generic than the Pixel 8 collection.

The cameras themselves aren’t an issue, at the least. The suite is spearheaded by a 50MP foremost sensor with optical picture stabilisation (OIS) and a large f/1.7 aperture. If it’s not the very same sensor as final yr’s, it’s extraordinarily shut, all the way down to the 1/1.31in picture sensor dimension. We’ve all the time cherished the cameras on the Pixel flagships so I don’t essentially assume it’s an excessive amount of of a giant deal if that is certainly the identical digicam because the Pixel 8 collection being trotted out as soon as once more – it’s nonetheless a improbable shooter.

Alongside the principle lens is a 48MP ultrawide lens that’s undoubtedly completely different to the one discovered on the Pixel 8 Professional, because it has a a lot wider f/1.7 aperture (in comparison with the 8 Professional’s f/2.0) and a touch smaller area of view (123° in comparison with 126°). The telephoto digicam is generally the identical, with OIS, an optical vary of 5x and an f/2.8 aperture, however the megapixel depend has jumped barely from 48MP to 50MP. Lastly, on the entrance now we have a bigger 48MP (f/2.2) selfie digicam with a 103° area of view – the widest on any Pixel but.

The digicam software program is as a lot part of the Pixel telephones’ earlier success because the {hardware} and Google is tweaking it this yr with a brand new HDR pipeline, apparently rebuilt from the bottom up. Options like Magic Eraser, Greatest Take and Photograph Unblur all return, too, in addition to newcomer “Add Me”, an addition to Greatest Take that enables the photo-taker to be inserted into group photographs after the actual fact, so no one’s neglected.

After languishing in improvement hell for months earlier than lastly dropping on the Pixel 8 Professional, it seems to be like the brand new Zoom Improve function will probably be on each the 9 Professional and 9 Professional XL from launch. This mode makes use of generative AI to fill within the blanks between pixels on zoomed photographs, ostensibly predicting and recreating finer particulars.

Past that, AI crops up within the new climate app, offering each day summaries, the decision app, with on-device transcripts of your calls, and within the picture gallery, with the brand new Pixel Screenshots app organising your captures and permitting you to look by means of them by key phrases. Gemini may now maintain a free-flowing dialog, reacting to you altering subjects or interrupting it dynamically, making complicated questioning really feel extra like pure dialog.

Similar to the Pixel 8 collection, your entire Pixel 9 collection will even obtain seven years of OS and safety updates, together with new Pixel function drops. Each the Pixel 9 Professional and the 9 Professional XL will even have Google Gemini because the default assistant from launch, in addition to a free yr of the Google One AI plan, which gives up 2TB of cloud storage and entry to Gemini Superior options like summarising unread emails in your Gmail inbox.

The very last thing I need to contact on is the a part of all this that troubles me essentially the most – sure, much more than the redesigned digicam bar. Pricing exhibits that the Google Pixel 9 Professional begins at the very same costs because the 8 Professional, with the 128GB mannequin costing £999. The 256GB and 512GB variants, nonetheless, are each £40 greater than final yr, at £1,099 and £1,129, respectively, and the brand new 1TB model tops it off at £1,449.

The £40 value will increase are one factor, however what rubs me the flawed method is that even when you purchase the entry-level 128GB mannequin, you’re paying the identical value as final yr, however not getting the identical degree of cellphone. The Pixel 9 Professional is smaller than the Pixel 8 Professional, with a great half-inch off the show and a lower-capacity battery.

The Pixel 9 Professional XL is the place you’ll have to go so as to get the direct sequel to the Pixel 8 Professional and it’s right here that I come again to my cynical evaluation of this new addition to the Pixel household. The 9 Professional XL fashions are all £100 greater than their smaller counterparts – £1,099 (128GB), £1,199 (256GB), £1,229 (512GB), £1,549 (1TB) – which signifies that, obfuscations apart, the Pixel 9 Professional XL is at the least £100 and as a lot as £140 dearer than the Pixel 8 Professional.

And that’s my huge drawback: whereas it may be painted as consumer-friendly and increasing the extent of selection, this splitting of the Pixel Professional into two handsets, to me, looks like subterfuge. The Pixel 9 Professional XL, which regardless of the brand new suffix remains to be very a lot the direct follow-up to final yr’s Pixel 8 Professional, is dearer than its predecessor, whereas the Pixel 9 Professional begins on the similar value however has decrease specs. Collectively, they produce an phantasm of continuity however in actuality, one costs the identical for much less and the opposite asks extra for a similar.

Evidently, this messy pricing construction hasn’t made the most effective first impression with me however that doesn’t imply that my thoughts is made up concerning the Pixel 9 Professional and Pixel 9 Professional XL. We’ll have full critiques coming very quickly, so make sure to verify again then to see if both handset can deliver me round after this wobbly introduction.