Google Pixel 9 Pro vs. Pixel 8 Pro: Is it time to upgrade?

The Pixel 9 Pro XL can best be considered the replacement for the Pixel 8 Pro, but for the first time this year, it has a smaller brother designed for those who want a Pro experience in a smaller form factor. Designed to offer choice without needing to sacrifice the core specs, the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL both have the same specs aside from display size and battery capacities.

The former has a 6.3-inch Super Actua display, while the Pixel 9 Pro XL has a 6.8-inch Super Actua display. If you’re considering upgrading from the Pixel 8 Pro, you’ll probably find the XL most comfortable, but if you’ve held off on buying the 8 Pro because the 6.7-inch display was too large, you’ll want to consider the Pixel 9 Pro.

The new Super Actua displays are the brightest on a Pixel yet, with up to 2000 nits HDR and 3000 nits peak brightness. This makes them 25% brighter than the Pixel 8 Pro and some of the brightest displays on any phone to date.

One of our favorite things about Pixel phones is the array of color options. Google knows how to make phones in attractive colors, especially in a way that isn’t garish or tacky. The Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL both come in four stylish colors: Obsidian (aka White), Porcelain (aka Black), Hazel, and Rose Quartz. There’s no follow-up to the incredible blue Pixel 8 Pro, but the Rose Quartz color is a great choice this year.

A new phone means a new processor, but there’s no big switch in architecture or supplier. The Pixel 8 Pro was powered by the Tensor G3, and the Tensor G4 powers the Pixel 9 Pro series. Recognizing the need for additional memory, especially with the AI-first experience, the Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL both also come with 16GB of RAM (versus 12GB in the Pixel 8 Pro).

The Tensor G4 is designed to bring improvements in day-to-day tasks while also ensuring that all Pixel 9 devices can run Google’s most advanced AI modals efficiently. Google says the Tensor G4 is the first processor to run Gemini Nano with multimodality. This means you’ll get the best AI performance — 45 tokens per second, to be precise — with any of the new Pixel 9 series, and all of them can recognize text, image, audio, and speech inputs.

Google isn’t the first to launch AI features, and it won’t be the last, but if you buy the Pixel 9 Pro, you’ll get a year of Gemini Advanced for free (it normally costs $20 per month). Gemini is also the default assistant on all Pixel 9 phones, although you can change it to Google Assistant.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL technically has a larger battery (5.060 mAh) than the Pixel 8 Pro (5,050 mAh), but at just 10mAh bigger, it might as well be identical. The battery life on the Pixel 8 Pro left many people with concerns, so it’s unclear just how much better the battery could be. If the Pixel 9 Pro XL battery does prove to be better, this will be down to the efficiency of the Tensor G4 processor. The Pixel 9 Pro has a smaller 4,700mAh battery which is likely to have inferior battery life compared to the Pixel 8 Pro.

This year, Google is giving the Pixel a much-needed charging boost. The Pixel 8 Pro offers 30-watt charging that takes a phone to 50% in 30 minutes, while the whole Pixel 9 Pro series now supports 45W charging. For the Pixel 9 Pro, this means up to 55% charge in about 30 minutes, while for the Pixel 9 Pro XL, Google says it will go up to 70% in about 30 minutes. There’s also Qi wireless charging, but no support for MagSafe-like Qi2 magnetic wireless charging.

The cameras on the Pixel 9 Pro are mostly the same as those on the Pixel 8 Pro, albeit with a few small tweaks. That means you get the same triple camera system, including the 50MP wide camera, 48MP ultrawide camera with Macro Focus, and the 48MP telephoto lens that offers 5x optical zoom.

Google is known for making magic by pairing AI with excellent camera hardware, and the Pixel 9 Pro offers great photos at various zoom lengths — including 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 5x, and 10x — all without extra hardware. Super Res Zoom — which lets you zoom up to 30x — is now also available in video for the first time.

The front-facing camera is a welcome boost from last year. The Pixel 8 Pro sports a 10.5MP ultrawide selfie camera with an f/2.2 aperture, but the Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL have the best of any Pixel to date. The new 42MP selfie camera offers 4x the detail and presumably can use pixel binning to let in much more light at the 10.5MP range. Expect much better selfies on the Pixel 9 Pro versus the Pixel 8 Pro.

If you’re a Google Pixel fan, you may have noticed that this year’s launch is early — much earlier than ever before.

Previous launches took place in October, so the Pixel series was the first to run the latest Android OS, but this year’s launch is too early for that. Android 15 is still in beta, and the Pixel 9 series won’t launch with Android 15 out of the box. Instead, there’s Android 14 out of the box, with a future update to Android 15 sdet to arrive when it’s available.

It’s unclear whether this upgrade to Android 15 will count as one of the seven guaranteed version updates. Nonetheless, Google is promising 7/7/7 as its update schedule: seven years of updates, seven years of security updates, and seven years of Pixel feature drops. This means it should be supported until August 2031, while the Pixel 8 Pro will be supported until October 2030. With this year’s launch timing, however, both phones should technically end with the same Android version.

As you might expect, the new Pixel 9 series debuts many AI features. Some of these may come to the Pixel 8 Pro in future Drops, but it’s unclear which ones and whether some may require the Tensor G4. Google understands how to make magic with software, and some of these features could be just as transformative as Magic Eraser was three years ago.

Add Me will likely be the most used of these new features as it solves one of the biggest problems: how to take a photo with your friend that isn’t a selfie. Sure, you can ask a random stranger, or you can just rely on Google. Add Me works by taking two photos – one with you and one with your friend – and then stitching them together. It’s an elegant solution to a very real problem and one that’s likely to delight many people.

Magic Eraser is also getting a small update in the form of Auto Frame. Magic Eraser can now recompose a photo to improve the composition of a photo, and you can also type a prompt to generate new items and add them to the photo. There are also AI-powered enhancements to Video Boost, which can apply HDR+ at any zoom level and can also upscale to 8K, although the latter is limited to just the Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL.

One new addition that is particularly useful is the Pixel Screenshots app. We’ve all taken screenshots of important information — such as apartment codes or Wi-Fi passwords — only to never be able to find those screenshots later. Now, screenshots go into the dedicated app, and you can just ask Gemini to help you find them by providing details.

For example, ask Gemini for your apartment codes, and it’ll pass your request on to the Pixel Screenshots app. The app will surface the codes and show you the corresponding screenshots. It’s surprisingly neat and should be quite helpful for just about anyone.

The Pixel 8 Pro started at $999 and came with 12GB of RAM alongside 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage. The Pixel 9 Pro starts at the same price with the same storage options, while the Pixel 9 Pro XL is $100 more. Both of the Pixel 9 series phones come with 16GB of RAM.

Essentially, this means the Pixel 9 Pro XL — which is the most similar in size to the Pixel 8 Pro — is slightly more expensive this year. Much like the price increase for the Galaxy Z Fold 6, it’s hard to truly justify this, although at least the Pixel 9 Pro is more of an upgrade than Samsung’s latest foldable.

The Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL are available to preorder as of August 13. The Pixel 9 Pro XL officially goes on sale on August 22, while the smaller Pixel 9 Pro won’t be officially available until September 4.

Should you upgrade from the Pixel 8 Pro to the Pixel 9 Pro or the Pixel 9 Pro XL, or should you buy the Pixel 8 Pro instead of either of the new devices?

However, if you’re new to the Pixel ecosystem, we recommend buying the new Pixel 9 Pro series. There’s no reason to pay the same price for last year’s phone. We do recommend the Tensor G4 over last year’s Tensor G3 processor, so avoid the Pixel 8 Pro if you can help it. If you want a smaller version of the Pro phone without the trade-offs that come from a non-Pro like the regular Pixel 9, the Pixel 9 Pro is the one to buy. If you want the next generation of the Pixel 8 Pro in a similar size (albeit 0.1 inches larger), the Pixel 9 Pro XL is your friend.

If you’re currently holding on to a Pixel 8 Pro, your decision is a bit different. If your Pixel 8 Pro is still running well and you don’t have any issues with it, the Pixel 9 Pro (or the 9 Pro XL) is unlikely to be a revolutionary upgrade for you. The upgraded specs are certainly nice, but they also aren’t life-changing. If you like your Pixel 8 Pro just fine, go ahead and hold on to it. But if you have extra cash to burn and like having the newest and shiniest phone, the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL won’t leave you disappointed.