Last week’s poll shows that the new Pixel 9 Pro could prove to be a best-seller for Google. It received the most positive votes and on top of that it has the most potential to grow in popularity if it proves itself in reviews.
It’s a great upgrade over the Pixel 8, though it does cost noticeably more too – concerns about the price are definitely reflected in the poll. On the plus side, Google has more or less covered all the markets that are interested in a Pixel phone, so availability is less of an issue.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, the big dog of this generation, definitely feels expensive – more people are concerned about its price than the price of the new foldable! To be fair, $1,100/€1,200 is a lot to spend on a phone, even if you can keep it for 7 years.
But will you? All eyes are on the Tensor G4 since its performance doesn’t look competitive now, never mind in the 2030s. The chip is shared by all Pixel 9 models and all but the vanilla phone have 16GB of RAM (that one has 12GB, allowing it to run Google’s AI models on device).
Speaking of, the Google Pixel 9 is facing an uphill struggle – it’s fairly expensive, but lacks a telephoto camera and misses out on the upgraded selfie camera (it has a 10.5MP module instead of 42MP like on the 9 Pro duo).
No LTPO display either, even though a Galaxy S24 can be had for less than $800/€900 and it does have an LTPO display and a 3x 10MP tele camera. The S24 series is also slated for 7 years of support, so Google’s only advantage here is its first party features like Zoom Enhance (that said, One UI has its proponents too).
Is the Pixel 9 Pro Fold the best horizontal foldable that money can buy? Well, putting aside the people who just don’t want a foldable, most think that Google is onto something (we do too). People aren’t that interested in reviews as most have already made up their minds. What people are interested in, however, is discounts. Seriously, $1,800 is a lot of money.
We have the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL in for review, so expect a detailed report soon. We should be getting the others too, but their launch is set for September, so not yet. For now, check out our Pixel 9 series hot take.