Google Pixel 9 Pro previewed with new camera design ahead of August 13
The Google Pixel 9 will change up the camera visor in this year's flagship phone
📱 Google Pixel 9 Pro has been teased in a new official video
📸 Its camera axes the ‘visor’ look for a fresh pill-shaped design
✨ Gemini AI is actually the big focus of this teaser video
📆 Pixel 9 to launch August 13 alongside the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold
We reported on the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold being teased this week on the heels of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 release, but it’s worth noting that there’s also a very similar clip of the Google Pixel 9 Pro on YouTube. And, yes, it reveals new details.
Google’s video focuses on Gemini AI and its capabilities, but it also briefly introduces the Google Pixel 9 Pro camera for the first time. It changes up the wider camera visor that was in the Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, Google Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, and Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. It was carried over to the cheaper Google Pixel 7a and Pixel 8a.
How has it changed? The Google Pixel 9 Pro sports a tighter camera module with a pill-shaped design. It appears to have the same number of cameras – three – for wide, ultrawide, and telephoto photography and video.
Of course, given the design shift after three years, we may be in for a specs upgrade over the standard 50MP camera, whether that means a new sensor or simple tweaks to Google’s famed post-processing camera software.
Google Pixel 9 Pro pros and cons
The Shortcut will be reporting live from the Google Pixel 9 Pro launch event on August 13. We’ll be sure to give equal time to testing this smartphone and the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, even if foldable phones are new and exciting. Foldables are expensive and not for all consumers in 2024 – I get it.
Based on the Pixel lineup's track record, I can already tell you about the potential pros and cons of the Pixel 9 Pro, so you don’t have to wait for Google’s event. This should help you decide if you want to buy the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or wait to see Apple’s iPhone 16. These are going to be the Google Pixel 9 Pro’s biggest rivals.
The cameras have been the top highlights of the Google Pixel ever since I started reviewing them (and the Google Nexus phone before that). The addition of AI in the last year has offered features like Best Take (face-swapping) and Magic Editor (Photoshop-like wizardry baked into Google Photos). And they’re the reasons to buy a Google Pixel phone over its competitors, Samsung and Apple.
Hopefully, the emphasis on AI means Google has something new to announce when it comes to generative AI photo and video editing using Gemini, as Samsung is starting to catch up with its Galaxy AI photo editing.
What Google needs to fix in its Pixel lineup is its chipset. It’s fine for AI tasks right now, but gaming is where it lags, even behind cheaper Android phones that use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. So the company needs to step up the capabilities of the rumored Google Tensor G4 chipset, especially because the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is around the corner with a slated October announcement.
We’ll have a full Google Pixel 9 Pro review as soon as it launches after the August 13 event. Google’s launch event leapfrogged ahead of Apple’s iPhone 16 event, and no one saw that news coming, so we may be in for some surprises.