My first response to this was detrimental. 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 considered as helpful to customers. Some might want the ability of the Professional telephone 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 along 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 fee has a broader vary of 1-120Hz. As a “Tremendous Actua” show, against the Pixel 9’s Actua one, it additionally will get a little bit brighter, with Google claiming a peak of three,000 nits, with the customary Pixel 9 topping out at 2,700 nits. Not that you simply’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 fee and peak brightness listed as 3,000 nits, however it has a better decision of 1,344 x 2,992. Scratch safety is identical both manner, 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 foremost 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 Execs additionally get precisely the identical digicam {hardware}, and it’s right here that I discover my first actual downside with the Pixel 9 sequence. The rear cameras have been reorganised into a large oval housing that doesn’t fairly meet the sides of the telephone, changing the long-lasting – and, for my part, cleaner – full-width bar. This appears like a design change for the sake of differentiation to me and it finally ends up trying a little bit extra generic than the Pixel 8 sequence.
The cameras themselves aren’t an issue, at the least. The suite is spearheaded by a 50MP most important sensor with optical picture stabilisation (OIS) and a large f/1.7 aperture. If it’s not the very same sensor as final 12 months’s, it’s extraordinarily shut, right down to the 1/1.31in picture sensor dimension. We’ve at all times beloved the cameras on the Pixel flagships so I don’t essentially suppose it’s an excessive amount of of a giant deal if that is certainly the identical digicam because the Pixel 8 sequence being trotted out as soon as once more – it’s nonetheless a unbelievable shooter.
Alongside the principle lens is a 48MP ultrawide lens that’s positively 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 we have now 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 12 months with a brand new HDR pipeline, apparently rebuilt from the bottom up. Options like Magic Eraser, Greatest Take and Picture 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 very fact, so no person’s ignored.
After languishing in growth hell for months earlier than lastly dropping on the Pixel 8 Professional, it appears to be like like the brand new Zoom Improve characteristic will likely 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 can even now maintain a free-flowing dialog, reacting to you altering subjects or interrupting it dynamically, making advanced questioning really feel extra like pure dialog.
Identical to the Pixel 8 sequence, the complete Pixel 9 sequence may also obtain seven years of OS and safety updates, together with new Pixel characteristic drops. Each the Pixel 9 Professional and the 9 Professional XL may also have Google Gemini because the default assistant from launch, in addition to a free 12 months of the Google One AI plan, which provides 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 12 months, 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 fallacious manner is that even should you purchase the entry-level 128GB mannequin, you’re paying the identical value as final 12 months, however not getting the identical degree of telephone. The Pixel 9 Professional is smaller than the Pixel 8 Professional, with an excellent half-inch off the show and a lower-capacity battery.
The Pixel 9 Professional XL is the place you’ll have to go with the intention 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 large downside: 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, appears like subterfuge. The Pixel 9 Professional XL, which regardless of the brand new suffix continues to be very a lot the direct follow-up to final 12 months’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 one of the best 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 evaluations coming very quickly, so make sure you test again then to see if both handset can carry me round after this wobbly introduction.