You love your Pixel 8 phone. But with the arrival of the Pixel 9 series, it’s just too tempting not to peek at the latest devices and their oh-so-cool AI advances, specs, and on-board tech. So, what’s changed with the Google Pixels for 2024?
The Pixel 9 series has some seriously groundbreaking changes that may make it too tempting to overlook—mainly in the form of Gemini, the ultra-advanced built-in AI assistant, not to mention some pretty amazing new camera features. More on that later. First, let’s start with a quick nuts-and-bolts view of each of the series and go from there.
Google Pixel 8 series
Google Pixel 8a
- 6.1" Actua OLED display
- 4,492 mAh battery
- Google Tensor G3 chipset
- Camera setup: 64MP wide, 13MP ultrawide, 13MP selfie
- 8GB RAM
- 128GB, 256GB storage
Google Pixel 8
- 6.2" Actua OLED display
- 4,575 mAh battery w/battery share (charge other devices wirelessly)
- Google Tensor G3 chipset
- Camera setup: 50MP wide, 12MP ultrawide, 10.5MP selfie
- 8GB RAM
- 128GB, 256GB storage
Google Pixel 8 Pro
- 6.7" Super Actua OLED display
- 5,050 mAh battery w/battery share (charge other devices wirelessly)
- Google Tensor G3 chipset
- Camera setup: 50MP wide, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP telephoto, 10.5MP selfie
- 12GB RAM
- 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB storage
Google Pixel Fold
While this wasn’t officially released along with the 8 series, we included it for comparative purposes since the 9 series offers an upgraded version
- Two OLED displays: 7.6" foldable / 5.8" cover
- 4,821mAh battery
- Google Tensor G2 chipset
- Camera setup: 48MP wide, 10.8MP ultrawide, 10.8MP telephoto, 9.5MP selfie
- 12GB RAM
- 256GB, 512GB storage
Google Pixel 9 series
Google Pixel 9
- 6.3" Actua OLED display
- 4,700 mAh battery
- Google Tensor G4 chipset
- Camera setup: 50MP wide, 48MP ultrawide, 10.5MP selfie
- 12GB RAM
- 128GB, 256GB storage
- Google Gemini baked-in
Google Pixel 9 Pro
- 6.3" Super Actua OLED display
- 4,700 mAh battery w/battery share (charge other devices wirelessly)
- Google Tensor G4 chipset
- Camera setup: 50MP wide, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP telephoto, 42MP selfie
- 16GB RAM
- 128GB, 256GB, 512BG, 1TB storage
- Google Gemini baked-in
Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
- 6.8" Super Actua OLED display
- 5,060 mAh battery w/battery share (charge other devices wirelessly)
- Google Tensor G4 chipset
- Camera setup: 50MP wide, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP telephoto, 42MP selfie
- 16GB RAM
- 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB storage
- Google Gemini baked-in
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold
- Two OLED displays: 8" Super Actua Flex (foldable) / 6.3" Actua (cover)
- 4,650mAh battery
- Google Tensor G4 chipset
- Camera setup: 48MP wide, 10.5MP ultrawide, 10.8MP telephoto, 10MP selfie
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB, 512GB storage
- Google Gemini baked-in
What’s new: The breakdown
- Two Pro phone size choices. Unlike the previous Google Pixel Series, you can now choose a smaller-sized phone, without having to downgrade from Pro status. The 6.3" Pro has pretty much the same features as the 6.8" Pro XL, in a more compact package.
- Twice as durable as the previous generation
- Best, brightest displays in their class
- 50% faster fingerprint unlock
- Memory upgrades across phones
- Improved thermals/vapor chambers for advanced cooling
- Better battery life thanks to powerful processor and optimizations across the phone
- Satellite SOS on board, so you can contact emergency services even when you’re off the grid
Gemini era arrives
While the above specs give you a nice overview of some of the changes, they don’t tell the full story. Mainly, it’s the groundbreaking Google Gemini capabilities (e.g., AI integrations) that have everyone buzzing about the new Google Pixel 9 phones. This is the first series designed specifically for the Gemini era, which means Gemini is fully integrated into pretty much everything you do, all powered by the upgraded Google Tensor G4 chipset. So, how does this look exactly? Here are just a few examples:
- Instead of typing a query, you can chat back and forth with a virtual assistant, in your choice of voices, and in an eerily lifelike way, using Gemini Live. It follows along seamlessly, even if you change your thoughts midway, speak very conversationally, interrupt, etc. (Note: Gemini Live requires a Gemini Advanced subscription. All Pro phones in the 9 Series come with one year of Gemini Advanced included, as well as 2TB of cloud storage.)
- Ask Gemini to summarize your unopened emails in Gmail or your Google Docs.
- If you’re watching a YouTube cooking video, for example, ask Gemini to make a grocery list for you based on what’s in the video.
If that’s not groundbreaking enough, here are some other cool AI-powered features on the newest Google Pixel 9 phones:
- Pixel Weather. Custom AI weather report comes compete with recommendations (bring your umbrella!), at-a-glance forecasting, notifications and more.
- Call Notes. On an important call but can’t take notes? This feature can create completely private conversation notes (summaries or full transcripts) when activated. Of course, everyone is notified for privacy purposes.
- Pixel Screenshots. This is a visual library of all your screenshots, so you have instant access to everything you want to remember. For example, you’re shopping for shoes and take a few screenshots of products you like for later. It saves those shots, analyzes the content, and even makes your screenshots searchable (just click on the screenshot to go back to the page you were on). It also gives you instant info based on information in the image, like price, size, color and more. You can categorize your screenshots and even search for them by name (e.g., shoes).
- Camera & video features
- Add Me. Gone are the days of taking group photos without you in the pic. This really cool feature lets you take a group photo and then add yourself. Just snap the photo and hand the phone to someone else. Augmented reality saves the shot while you step in.
- Pixel Studio. This image generator lets you describe what image you want to create (e.g., summer pool party invitations with people laughing and splashing in the pool) and it pops up instantly. Choose distinctive styles, like animated or retro, and add captions or additional images as needed.
- Panorama Mode. AI literally guides your hand for detailed and flawless panoramas (Choose the Nightsight option to see how the same panoramic shot looks at night, in full detail, sharpness and color.)
- Professional photographic techniques. Do things like reframe, fill in items left out of the photo, tap to switch backgrounds (cloudy sky turns blue), or zoom in to add images (butterfly on someone’s shoulder).
- Upscale video. Upscale to 8K from 4K and create high-quality thumbnails from any frame, perfect for influencers.
- Made You Look. Available only on the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, this ingenious feature is designed to help you capture the perfect pics of babies and toddlers (or reluctant smilers in your life). The outer screenshot plays a playful video that gets them smiling so you can snap the perfect picture.
Google Pixel 9 vs. Google Pixel 8: To switch or not to switch
While the Google Pixel 8 series has some pretty cool AI features, like Circle to Search, Magic Editor, Magic Eraser and more, it’s not going to have the Gemini capabilities that we’re seeing on the Google Pixel 9 series. It also has the older generation Tensor chip, fewer pro-camera capabilities, and less memory on board. So, if you want one packed with the latest AI features, newest chipset, access to Gemini Live, not to mention all the other bells and whistles, it may be time to upgrade. If you really don’t need all that, the Google Pixel 8 series offers plenty of powerful features that are perfectly fine for the average user. Still not sure whether to upgrade or not?
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Google Pixel 8 vs. Google Pixel 8 Pro