Picking over all the big Pixel news
The first Made by Google event of the year was jam-packed with announcements, with a whole suite of Pixel products, new Google Gemini features, and a host of smart AI-powered tools to go along with the new hardware.
For a beat-by-beat account of the showcase, take a look at our Made By Google event live blog. But read on for the seven biggest announcements that caught our collective eye during the showcase. 1. The Fold goes Pro
Rather than make a simple sequel to the Pixel Fold, the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, as its name would suggest, is a folding take on the Pixel 9 Pro. That means it gets the powerful camera suite of the non-folding version, along with a mix of AI-powered features, and puts them in a neat folding phone package.
So you get the likes of a Tensor G4 chip, 16GB of RAM and a 8-inch OLED Super Actua Flex folding display. Add in the AI features, and a thinner and lighter design, and you’re looking at a folding phone that has some proper ‘pro’ chops.
Read more: check out our Google Pixel 9 Pro Flod hands-on review2. The Pixel Watch gets bigger and smarter
The Google Pixel Watch 3 is a surprisingly comprehensive update, including the most visually impressive upgrade of the bunch – a new larger size option. The new 45mm Pixel Watch 3 XL model has a brighter-than-ever screen – it’s 40% bigger than the screen on the Pixel Watch 2 – but there are plenty of new features under the glass too.
A 35% bigger battery in the XL keeps maintains the day-long battery life even with a more powerful screen and always-on-display enabled, while on the health side, Loss of Pulse Detection can identify if your heart rate stops and send a message to emergency services. There are a bunch of new Fitbit training tools too, including a revamped Daily Readiness score and improved running information. The Pixel Watch 3 is certainly shaping up to be Google’s best wearable yet.
Read more: check out our Google Pixel Watch 3 hands-on review3. Don’t want a folding phone? The Pixel 9 Pro has gone XL
One could argue that the Google Pixel 9 Pro has display that’s plenty big, but perhaps you’re of the belief that bigger is indeed better: enter the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. The new addition to the Pixel phone lineup takes the core of the Pixel 9 Pro and adds in a 6.8-inch display and a 4,700mAh. And that’s it.
As such, you get a new Pixel Pro phones with a display that’s only 0.1 inches bigger than the screen on the Pixel 8 Pro; that’s not a huge amount but a little bit of space can go a long way when holding a phone horizontally and watching Netflix on it.
