Google has all but confirmed that it will reveal the Pixel 9 in full on 13 August – two months earlier than the usual October reveal dates for new Pixel phones – but the leaks keep on coming.
The latest images leaked online show the flagship Android phone in a shocking shade of pink, and shed some light on the suite of new AI features the phone is expected to be capable of. Some even suggest a return of the Pixel Fold, this time launching alongside the main series phones and branded the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
In a surprise announcement, the tech giant says it will host a Made by Google event on 13 August at its Mountain View HQ in California, weeks earlier than expected. The brief teaser video is titled “AI… meet IX” – a fairly straightforward allusion to artificial intelligence and the Roman numeral, nine.
Google typically reveals its new Pixel phones in October each year, following Apple’s announcement of its newest iPhones each September. This year the search giant has seemingly changed tack, and Google will arrive first to the party to announce its latest tech.
Having consciously never mentioned artificial intelligence for years, Apple finally revealed its AI plans for the iPhone 16 at WWDC in June, which may have prompted Google to move its own AI-related announcements forward. The Pixel 9 is expected to heavily utilise and integrate Google’s Gemini AI technology into its Pixel devices, similar to how Apple is taking advantage of OpenAI and other LLMs to enhance the functionality of Siri on iPhones.
What’s still unclear is exactly which features the Pixel 9 could offer the average user. Earlier this year, Google engineers demonstrated an impressive new multimodal AI assistant codenamed Project Astra, which can respond in a conversational style to continuous audio and visual inputs. When asked, Astra identified an audio speaker as an object that makes sound, explained the purpose of some code it saw on a monitor, remembered seeing a red apple on a desk earlier, and recognised the view from the window as Google’s Kings Cross campus in London, where the company’s AI team is based.
While a keen and showy demonstration of Google’s AI capabilities for app developers, we’re still waiting to find out what the Pixel 9 can actually do for the average person who buys and uses one every day. Especially in the UK and Europe, where many of Google’s AI features – such as image generation and certain kinds of call screening and website summaries – are restricted by European law.
In any case, we’ve rounded up everything else we know about the Pixel 9 below. Check back for the latest when we find out more at the Made by Google event this August.
Google Pixel 9 design
Predicted to be announced in August, the Pixel 9 range is getting a new and flatter edge design, similar to the appearance of the sharp lines of the iPhone 15. This would be a departure from the rounded aesthetic of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, where gentle curves helped to disguise the phone’s overall thickness.
Other changes include a redesigned camera bar. Rather than spanning the full width of the back of the phone, the triple-lens array appears on a wide, pill-shaped island. This update brings the Pixel 9 in line with the design of the Pixel Fold, which is also rumoured to be getting a newer version this year.
Will there be a Pixel 9 XL?
One of the biggest surprises this year is the rumoured Pixel 9 Pro XL, a brand new third flagship device with a larger display, a bigger battery and, presumably, a higher price to match. The phone, which doesn’t have an official name yet, has been seen in leaked videos.
Google Pixel 9 launch date
The Pixel 8 phones were announced on 12 October 2023, while the Pixel 7 phones first debuted on 6 October 2022. This year, however, it seems like Google will announce the Pixel 9 in August. Whether or not that means an August launch date remains to be seen.
For the last two years, Google has also launched the newest Pixel Watch alongside its latest phones. While we’ve no confirmation that a Pixel Watch 3 is in the works, it’s a reasonable guess that a new wearable will show up alongside the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro.
Google Pixel 9 price
We can only make an educated guess at how much the Pixel 9 might cost, but last year’s Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro saw a jump in price to £999 and £699. With inflationary pressures easing in the tech market, we’d love to see the newest Pixel phones stick to that three-digit price point.
Still, there’s reason to believe that Google might jack up the price of the Pro model Pixel past that psychological £1,000 barrier. The tech giant matched the price of the Pixel 8 Pro to the iPhone 15 Pro last October, and Apple is rumoured to be increasing the price of its phones soon. If that turns out to be the case when the iPhone 16 is announced in September, Google has cover to respond by raising the price of the newest Pixel phones in turn.
That said, we can also see Google sticking to its existing prices. Samsung, not Apple, is Google’s biggest competitor in Android phones, and the Korean tech firm’s Galaxy S24+ starts at £999. If the Pixel 9 is to have the best chance of luring more users away from Samsung’s massively popular phones, sticking to £999 would have to be part of that plan.
Google Pixel 9 display
Accessory maker Thinborne has apparently already got examples of their Pixel 9 cases floating around the internet which indicate the new shape and three models.
Other plausible Pixel 9 leaks are coming from trusted source Onleaks via Indian tech site MySmartPrice, which has shown off supposed renders of the newest flagship Pixel phones in great detail.
The leaked images show a freshly redesigned Pixel 9 with a new flat frame. The Pixel 8 Pro already ditched the lightly curved display in favour of a flat one, though this year’s phone takes things one step further with a uniformly flat and neat, iPhone-style edge.
Per the leaks, the power button and volume rocker remain unchanged on the right side of the device, as does the empty left side of the frame. The SIM tray has migrated to the bottom of the phone, sharing space with the speaker grille and USB-C charging port.
MySmartPrice reports that the Pixel 9 Pro will measure 162.7mm x 76.6mm x 8.5mm. Including the camera bump, the thickest part of the phone will measure 12mm. That camera bump will get a redesign too. Instead of spanning the full width of the back of the phone and blending into the frame, the three camera lenses will live on a pill-shaped camera island housing a wide angle, periscope telephoto and main lens. The holepunch selfie camera appears mostly unchanged from that of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.
The display of the Pixel 9 Pro is said to be slightly smaller than last year’s phone, now measuring 6.5in, down from 6.7in.
Google Pixel 9 specs
A new Tensor G4 chip is almost certain to make its debut with the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL. The newest Tensor chipset will predictably offer a performance boost over the G3, though it’s hard to quantify how big an improvement that might be at this early stage. What’s certain is that Google will be using the new technology to improve its on-device AI performance, which is expected to be a key pillar for the Pixel 9 phones.
According to Android Authority, the Pixel 9 series will also be getting an upgraded modem for the first time since the Pixel 7. A new Samsung-built modem should offer an efficiency boost, better connectivity and the ability to connect to satellite networks in emergencies.
Google Pixel 9 features
Software is where the Google Pixel series really shines. Although, not much is known about how the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro will perform in terms of features and functionality. We expect the Pixel 9 series to be the first to launch with Android 15, the latest version of the Google-backed operating system, just as the Pixel 8 launched with Android 14.
Google is pushing AI features hard and has recently relaunched Bard, its large language model, as Google Gemini. The tech giant has slowly started replacing some Google Assistant and Google search functionality with Google Gemini-powered results, though the rollout has been faltering. To date, the Gemini app is officially unavailable in the UK and Europe.
Google is also reportedly working on a Gemini-powered replacement to the Google Assistant on phones, called Pixie. This AI helper will be designed to work on-device rather than waiting around for cloud-based results, meaning faster response times to queries, commands and questions. Pixie will reportedly be able to nose around your Gmail inbox, as well as your reminders, calendar events and Google Maps information to bring you relevant and customised answers.
Android Authority reports that the Pixel 9 could be getting an emergency SOS feature similar to Apple’s, which would let users connect to emergency services using satellites, though this feature is likely to be region-specific. Mobile network coverage is more comprehensive in the UK and Europe than in the wildernesses of North America, so we’d guess that any SOS features would remain exclusive to the United States and Canada for now.
Best Google phone deals
The newest Pixel phone is down to just £28 per month at Metrofone, with nothing to pay up front. Our Pixel 8 review declared it the “best Google phone yet”, powered by the new Tensor G3 processor which enables powerful AI photo and video editing features.
Here’s a great deal on the Google Pixel 8 Pro at Carphone Warehouse. You can get the latest and best Google phone with 100GB of monthly data through id Mobile, which works out at £809 in total over the length of the two-year contract, mid plan price increase not included.
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