My first response to this was destructive. 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 thought of it a bit extra, I can see the way it may very well be seen as helpful to shoppers. Some might want the ability of the Professional cellphone 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 charge has a broader vary of 1-120Hz. As a “Tremendous Actua” show, against the Pixel 9’s Actua one, it additionally will get slightly brighter, with Google claiming a peak of three,000 nits, with the normal Pixel 9 topping out at 2,700 nits. Not that you just’d be capable 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 charge and peak brightness listed as 3,000 nits, but it surely has a better decision of 1,344 x 2,992. Scratch safety is identical both means, 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 larger 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 inside {hardware}, with the newest 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 digital camera {hardware}, and it’s right here that I discover my first actual drawback with the Pixel 9 collection. The rear cameras have been reorganised into a large oval housing that doesn’t fairly meet the perimeters of the cellphone, changing the enduring – and, in my view, cleaner – full-width bar. This looks like a design change for the sake of differentiation to me and it finally ends up trying slightly extra generic than the Pixel 8 collection.
The cameras themselves aren’t an issue, a minimum of. The suite is spearheaded by a 50MP major 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, all the way down to the 1/1.31in picture sensor dimension. We’ve at all times liked the cameras on the Pixel flagships so I don’t essentially assume it’s an excessive amount of of an enormous deal if that is certainly the identical digital camera because the Pixel 8 collection 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 totally 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 slightly smaller area of view (123° in comparison with 126°). The telephoto digital camera is generally the identical, with OIS, an optical vary of 5x and an f/2.8 aperture, however the megapixel rely has jumped barely from 48MP to 50MP. Lastly, on the entrance we’ve got a bigger 48MP (f/2.2) selfie digital camera with a 103° area of view – the widest on any Pixel but.
The digital camera 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 permits the photo-taker to be inserted into group photographs after the very fact, so no person’s not noted.
After languishing in improvement hell for months earlier than lastly dropping on the Pixel 8 Professional, it appears like the brand new Zoom Improve function might 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.
Similar to the Pixel 8 collection, your entire Pixel 9 collection will even obtain seven years of OS and safety updates, together with new Pixel function drops. Each the Pixel 9 Professional and the 9 Professional XL will even have Google Gemini because the default assistant from launch, in addition to a free 12 months of the Google One AI plan, which affords 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 probably the most – sure, much more than the redesigned digital camera bar. Pricing reveals 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, nevertheless, 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 worth will increase are one factor, however what rubs me the incorrect means is that even in the event you purchase the entry-level 128GB mannequin, you’re paying the identical worth as final 12 months, however not getting the identical degree of cellphone. The Pixel 9 Professional is smaller than the Pixel 8 Professional, with a great half-inch off the show and a lower-capacity battery.
The Pixel 9 Professional XL is the place you’ll must go in an effort 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 implies that, obfuscations apart, the Pixel 9 Professional XL is a minimum of £100 and as a lot as £140 dearer than the Pixel 8 Professional.
And that’s my large drawback: 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, looks 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 identical worth however has decrease specs. Collectively, they produce an phantasm of continuity however in actuality, one expenses the identical for much less and the opposite asks extra for a similar.
Evidently, this messy pricing construction hasn’t made the perfect first impression with me however that doesn’t imply that my thoughts is made up in regards to the Pixel 9 Professional and Pixel 9 Professional XL. We’ll have full critiques coming very quickly, so make sure to test again then to see if both handset can carry me round after this wobbly introduction.