Last week's poll shows that the new Pixel 9 Pro could prove to be a best-seller for Google. It received the most positive votes and, what's more, it has the greatest potential to grow in popularity if it proves itself in reviews.
This is a great upgrade over the Pixel 8, even if it also comes with a noticeably higher price tag. Concerns about the price are clearly reflected in the survey. On the plus side, Google has more or less covered all the markets interested in a Pixel phone, so availability is less of an issue.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, the big favorite of this generation, is definitely expensive: more people are concerned about its price than the new foldable smartphone! To be honest, $1,100/€1,200 is a significant outlay for a phone, even if you can keep it for 7 years.
But will you? All eyes are on the Tensor G4, as its performance doesn't seem competitive today, let alone in the 2030s. The chip is shared across all Pixel 9 models, and all but the standard phone have 16GB of RAM (this one has 12GB, which is what allows it to run Google's AI models on-device).
Speaking of which, the Google Pixel 9 faces an uphill battle: it's quite expensive, but it doesn't have a telephoto lens and doesn't have an upgraded selfie camera (it has a 10.5MP module instead of 42MP like on the 9 Pro duo).
No LTPO display either, although a Galaxy S24 can be had for under $800/€900 and it has an LTPO display and a 10MP 3x telephoto lens. The S24 series is also slated for 7 years of support, so Google's only advantage here is its proprietary features like Zoom Enhance (that said, One UI has its supporters too).
Is the Pixel 9 Pro Fold the best horizontal foldable money can buy? Well, leaving aside the people who simply don’t want a foldable, most think Google has found something (and so do we). People aren’t really interested in reviews because most have already made up their minds. What people care about, though, is discounts. Seriously, $1,800 is a lot of money.
We have the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL in review, so expect a detailed report soon. We should get the others too, but they're slated to launch in September, so not yet. For now, check out our Pixel 9 series preview.