Google’s Pixel 9 Pro has a lot to live up to: it’s the company’s new flagship phone, arriving as the AI competition heats up. With Google facing monopoly charges, this is the company’s chance to justify its unified ecosystem, a task the Pixel 9 Pro unfortunately fails to accomplish.
Google Pixel 9/Pro review: Gimmick or good?
And yet, it’s a great product in its own right. While much of the branding out front is trying to sell you on tech that’s probably still 10 years in the oven, the Pixel 9 Pro does basic phone things better than any Pixel in recent memory. It takes all the strengths of older models and makes them better, with a sleek, long-overdue design.
The big draw of the Pixel smartphone line has typically been its unique software, but while the Pixel 9 has a few AI tricks up its sleeve to keep up with Apple Intelligence, my favorite change this year is the phone itself.
That’s because, for the first time, the Pixel 9 Pro now comes in two sizes. There’s the “new” Pixel 9 Pro XL, which is actually about the same size as previous Pro models, and the regular Pixel 9 Pro, which functions more like a Pixel 9 Pro Mini compared to previous Pixel Pro models. Despite sharing the same name as those previous Pro models, it’s easily the fresher option.
