The deep integration of Google’s Gemini AI models gave the company a way to demonstrate a variety of unique experiences that are now available on the full.
In context: Creating differentiation in a saturated smartphone market filled with countless „me-too“ products is no easy task. To their credit, Google managed to pull that off at this week’s Made by Google event by focusing on AI software capabilities in their latest Pixel 9 lineup.
The deep integration of Google’s Gemini AI models gave the company a way to demonstrate a variety of unique experiences that are now available on the full range of new Pixel 9 phones.
From the surprisingly fluid conversational AI assistant feature of Gemini Live, through the transcription and summarization of voice calls in Call Notes and image creation capabilities of Pixel Studio, Google highlighted several practical examples of AI-powered features that regular people are actually going to want to use.
On the hardware side of things, Google managed to bring some differentiation as well – at least for their latest foldable. The Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL all feature the traditional flat slab of glass smartphone shape (in 6.3″ and 6.8″ screen sizes) but offer a new camera design on the back that offers a modest bit of design change.
However, the updated 9 Pro Fold stands out with a shorter, wider, and thinner shape, clearly distinguishing it from foldable competitors like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold. Interestingly, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s design is actually thinner and taller than the original Pixel Fold.
The aspect ratio that Google has chosen for the outside screen of the 9 Pro Fold makes it look and feel identical to a regular Pixel 9, while still offering the advantage of a foldable screen that opens up to a massive 8″.
For someone who has used foldable phones for several years, this similarity to a traditional phone size when unfolded is a much more significant change than it may first appear, and something I’m eager to try.
Inside the Pixel 9 lineup is Google’s own Tensor G4 SoC, the latest version of its mobile processor line. Built in collaboration with Samsung’s chip division, the Tensor G4 features standard Arm CPU and GPU cores but also incorporates Google’s proprietary TPU AI accelerator.
The whole line of phones incorporates upgraded camera modules, with the 9 Pro and Pro XL, in particular, sporting new 50MP main, 48MP ultrawide and 42MP selfie sensors. The phones also offer higher amounts of standard memory with 16 GB the new default on all but the $799 Pixel 9 (which features 12 GB standard).
