Pixel 9 Review: The Ultimate AI Phone from Google

Google shook things up by releasing the Pixel 9 earlier than usual—dropping it in August instead of the typical October launch. The Pixel 9 brings notable upgrades in design, raw power, and AI capabilities. It’s powered by the new Tensor G4 chip, which leans heavily into AI advancements. 

The design has been revamped with flat edges, offering a comfortable grip, though the new look might divide opinions. AI features like Pixel Screenshot, Pixel Studio, new Magic Editor, and the Add Me feature have also been added. 

But the big question remains: has Google finally resolved the Pixel’s notorious connectivity and heating issues? Well, you’ll be surprised to know. Let’s dive into the review to find out.

---

Google Pixel 9 Review: Design & Build

The Pixel 9 sports a fresh design with a flat frame. The visor is now a camera island. The camera bump is quite large, but that’s part of the deal. The sides have a matte aluminum finish which doesn’t attract fingerprints. On the back, the glossy glass looks sleek (when clean) but attracts fingerprints and smudges easily.

Dust tends to gather around the camera island, which can be a hassle to clean. The Pixel 9 weighs 198 grams, so it feels like you are holding something but it’s not uncomfortable. It also comes with IP68 water and dust resistance, so it’s safe from splashes. The phone supports a single SIM and an eSIM.

Speaking of which, at the bottom, you’ll find the SIM tray, microphone, Type-C port, and a speaker. Unfortunately, the speaker placement is less than ideal. When holding the phone in landscape mode, the speaker often gets blocked by your hand. They should have positioned the speaker on the right side instead.

The left side of the phone is clean. On the right, the power button is located at the top, with the volume rocker just below it.

The buttons themselves feel a bit cheap when clicked, which is disappointing for a premium device. The 6.3” screen makes the Pixel 9 smaller and easier to handle, though.

Google Pixel 9 Review: Display

The Pixel 9 features a 6.3” FHD+ AMOLED display. It has a resolution of 1080 x 2424 pixels and 422 ppi. The display also supports a 120 Hz refresh rate, known as “Smooth display” in the settings. However, this refresh rate is turned off by default, so you’ll need to enable it manually first.

In terms of brightness, the Pixel 9 impresses with up to 1,800 Nits of high brightness and a peak brightness of 2,700 Nits. I had no issues with the brightness, even under harsh sunlight. However, when using the camera or other intensive apps, the brightness does drop automatically.

The display is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which does a great job of resisting scratches. I’ve used the phone without a case or screen protector, and it’s held up well. The front camera on the Pixel 9 sits a bit lower than usual, not perfectly aligning with the status bar. Oh, and the bezels could’ve been thinner.

Color reproduction is good but you might notice a little warmer tint on the display. Additionally, the display’s 240 Hz PWM isn’t great for eye comfort. At lower brightness levels, it can cause eye fatigue, which is something to be aware of if you’re sensitive to screen flicker.

The Pixel 9 also comes with Adaptive Touch, allowing you to use the screen with wet fingers, which is pretty handy. However, there’s a noticeable issue when scrolling on dark backgrounds at low brightness levels—the text appears with a pinkish tint.

Google Pixel 9 Review: Speakers

The Pixel 9 also has stereo speakers. The bottom speaker is located on the left side, which, as mentioned earlier, often gets blocked when holding the phone in landscape mode. 

The earpiece doubles as a secondary speaker, but there’s a noticeable channel imbalance. The bottom speaker is louder, with decent bass and clear vocals, but overall, the sound isn’t very loud.

Google Pixel 9 Review: Software

The Pixel 9 comes with Android 14 out of the box, but Google has promised that Android 15 is on the way soon. As for updates, you’ll be getting 7 years of OS upgrades, feature drops, and security updates, which is pretty impressive. 

Google’s track record with updates is solid, and the Pixel 9 is already running on September’s security patch, which is the latest at the time of writing. No bloatware, no ads—just a clean, smooth UI experience. 

However, Pixel UI does have some gaps. For instance, you won’t find features like cloning apps or some of the more customizable floating windows that other UIs offer. This works for most people, but if you’re into customization, you might find it a bit limiting.

AI Features 

When it comes to AI features, Pixel 9 is leading the pack. The new Pixel Screenshots app lets you search through your screenshots using on-device AI, which can come in handy. Then there’s Pixel Studio, a new app exclusive to the Pixel 9 series, where you can generate images. 

ALSO READ: Pixel 9’s AI Screenshot App: A Deep Dive Into Google’s Smart Screenshots 

Pixel Studio is still in its early stages, so it only supports non-human generation, but it’s got six unique styles to play around with. Also, Pixel Studio is not on-device but instead uses Google’s cloud-based Imagen 3 image generation model.

ALSO READ: Pixel Studio: How AI Powers Image Generation On the Pixel 9

In my opinion, Magic Editor is where the real fun begins. This feature lets you Recompose images, Reimagine certain areas, and even type in prompts to generate new content. It’s kind of mind-blowing how far AI has come, and it’s exciting to see it integrated so seamlessly into a smartphone.

You also get the usual Pixel goodies like Unblur and Magic Eraser, and a cool new feature called Sky Color (a part of Magic Editor). This lets you change the sky in your photos, whether you want to switch to golden hour or just make the sky more dramatic. 

The only downside? Google Gallery, where you do all this editing, can be a bit slow, but it gets the job done.

Other notable features include Call Notes, which automatically summarizes your phone conversations, and a revamped AI-powered Weather app. This new Weather app is clean, quick, and gives you a short summary of the day’s forecast. Notably, the 1-year Gemini Advanced subscription and Super Res Zoom are only available on the Pro models.

Google Pixel 9 Review: Haptics

Haptics on the Pixel 9 are the some of the best that I have used. They’re integrated beautifully, so whether you’re swiping down the control center or just tapping through the UI, you’ll feel those subtle tactile feedback.

Google Pixel 9 Review: Biometrics

The Pixel 9 comes with a new ultrasonic fingerprint scanner that’s faster and more secure than the usual optical scanners. It works as intended, and I like the placement of the scanner. However, face unlock is still 2D, and it’s a nightmare to use during the night.

Google Pixel 9 Review: Performance

The Pixel 9 is powered by the Tensor G4 chipset, which is an 8-core CPU. It’s built on Samsung’s infamous 4 nm process, and it’s paired with a Mali-G715 GPU, 12 GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Interestingly, half of that 12 GB RAM is dedicated to AI tasks.

In daily use, the Pixel 9 handles everything you throw at it without breaking a sweat. There’s no vapour cooling system like on the Pro models. Still, it manages to keep things under control during regular use, though it gets hot during heavy tasks like gaming.

Synthetic Benchmarks

The benchmarks tell a mixed story. The Pixel 9 performs decently in tests like Geekbench and AnTuTu. But when it comes to prolonged tasks, like in the CPU throttling test, it starts to show some weaknesses, with performance dropping over time. The lack of proper cooling becomes evident here, especially in gaming.

Benchmark	Score/Result
Geekbench 6	Single-Core: 1579 Multi-Core: 3787
AnTuTu Benchmark V10	1,046,840
Storage Test	Sequential Read: 1973 MB/s Sequential Write: 1068 MB/s Random Read: 618 MB/s Random Write: 590 MB/s
CPU Throttling (30 min)	50 threads, throttled to 55% Average GIPS: 205,997
CPU Throttling (15 min)	20 threads, throttled to 54% Average GIPS: 179,943
PCMark	Performance Score: 11,804
Wild Life Extreme Test	Score: 2555 Average FPS: 15.30
AI Benchmark Quantized Score	CPU Score: 1653 GPU Score: 693 NPU Score: 6658

Gaming

Speaking of gaming, the Pixel 9 is okay but not great. It handles popular games like Asphalt 9 and Call of Duty at decent frame rates, but you’ll notice the device heating up, which can lead to frame drops. Genshin Impact is playable at high settings, but if you push it too hard, the performance dips.

Game	Graphics Settings	Average FPS
Asphalt 9	Default	55-60 FPS
BGMI	Smooth + Extreme	50-60 FPS
Genshin Impact	High 60 FPS	40-50 FPS
Call of Duty	Max Settings	60 FPS

Google Pixel 9 Review: Cameras

The Pixel 9 comes with a main camera and an ultra-wide on the rear. There’s no telephoto on this setup. Here are the camera specifications:

• Main: 50 MP, 1/1.3” 1.4μm, f/1.68, 24mm equivalent, OIS, PDAF
• Ultra-Wide: 48 MP, 1/2.55” 0.7–1.2μm, f/1.7, 123° 12mm equivalent, PDAF
• Front: 10.5 MP, 1/3.1” 1.22µm, f/2.2, 20 mm equivalent (0.7x), PDAF
• Video:
  • Main: 4K/1080p at 24/30/60 fps, 1080p at 120/240 fps, Blur/Active Video Stabilization 1080p at 30 fps
  • Ultra-Wide: 4K/1080p at 24/30/60 fps, 1080p at 120/240 fps
  • Front: 4K/1080p at 30/60 fps

Main 

The Pixel 9 features a 50 MP main camera that performs well in daylight with good dynamic range. However, the color science can be inconsistent, resulting in photos that sometimes appear too warm or too cool. 

Detail is decent, even when zoomed in, and low-light performance is satisfactory with minimal noise and effective HDR. Still, there are issues with lens flare and occasional subpar photos.

Portraits

Portraits taken with the Pixel 9 have good detail and relatively accurate skin tones, but the edge detection needs a lot of improvement. Backlight handling is poor, especially in low-light conditions, making portraits shots really poor. Even with post-processing, the results are not up to par, and the blur effect seems unnatural at times.

Panoramas

Panoramas are a strong suit for the Pixel 9. They are well-exposed, easy to capture, and maintain consistent exposure across the frame. They are detailed and sharp, even in low-light conditions, though they aren’t exceptionally wide.

Ultra-Wide 

The 48 MP ultrawide camera provides a very wide field of view with decent detail and minimal chromatic aberration. However, HDR performance can be inconsistent, and images often have a warm tone.

In low-light, ultrawide photos are a toned-down version of those from the main camera.

Macro 

I love the macro mode on the Pixel 9. You can take detailed close-ups with a minimum focus distance of 3 cm. Macro photos are sharp and often don’t need further editing for social media. I took these shots with a 2x crop in the macro mode.

Front

Selfies from the 10.5 MP front camera have a wide field of view and good skin tones, and the HDR is average.

Also, there’s noticeable noise in low-light conditions. Portrait mode selfies are a bit underwhelming, with poor edge detection.

Add Me

One nifty feature is “Add Me” in the Camera app. It’s for group photos, allowing you to take a photo, then step into the shot and have Google stitch everything together to make it look like one single image. It’s indeed a great concept, but in reality, it only works well about half the time, especially in low light. So, you might need to experiment a bit to get it right. 

Video Performance

Videos from the main camera are generally good with decent stabilization, though 4K footage can be a bit stuttery, especially at 60 fps. 30 fps videos also show some stuttering but are more stable. 

Ultra-stabilized videos are limited to 1080p, and there’s no 4K option. The cinematic blur feature is also restricted to 1080p and lacks stabilization.

Ultra-wide, videos have warmer tones and decent detail, but HDR performance could be better. On the front, HDR is good, and videos are generally stable. 

Both the main and ultrawide cameras handle low-light reasonably well with good detail and less noise, though lens flare is an inconvenience. The front camera performs poorly in low-light, with excessive noise and poor HDR.

Google Pixel 9 Review: Battery Life and Charging

The Pixel 9 has a 4,700 mAh battery, which, on paper, seems decent. However, in practice, it’s a different story. The battery supports up to 27W wired charging, but if you’re using a standard PD charger instead of Google’s official adapter, be prepared for a long wait. Charging this thing to 100% took me around two hours—and sometimes even longer. 

There’s also support for wireless charging at up to 12W with a regular Qi charger. But not only does it take longer to charge, but I also encountered an annoying issue where the wireless charging would randomly disconnect after a while. It’s pretty frustrating, especially if you’re someone who likes to use wireless charging overnight or during the day while you work.

Now, back to battery life, which has been, well, pretty decent at best. With heavy usage—think camera, gaming, and lots of multitasking—I was getting around 4.5 to 5 hours of screen-on time. However, with lighter, more regular use (mostly social media apps), I was able to squeeze out around 7 hours of screen-on time. 

Review Verdict: Should You Buy the Google Pixel 9?