Made by Google, the company’s annual hardware launch event, is almost upon us. Scheduled for August 13 at 10am Pacific Time, Google will use the event to announce new iterations of its marquee Pixel line of phones. Industry insiders also expect Google to announce other hardware, including new Pixel Buds Pro, and a new Google Watch.
Unlike Apple, details about Google phones leak like a sieve. In fact, way back in 2022, some sources leaked a roadmap that pegged 2024 as the launch year of the Google Pixel 9 series of phones. That roadmap rightly suggested that Google will sneak in a third phone in between the vanilla and the Pro models.
Since the last few years, Google has always released its phones in October, after the new iPhone launch in September. However, Google has stirred things up by undercutting the iPhone launch event, holding its Made by Google event in August.
Another thing that isn’t a secret any more is the addition of generative AI features in the Pixel 9 phones. The first time Google talked about the Pixel 9 phones (Pixel 9 Pro to be exact) was in July 2024. In that teaser trailer Google announced the phone as one “built for the Gemini era”.
Google Pixel 9
Unlike previous iterations, this time around we’ll get more than two phones with the Google Pixel 9 badge. Leaks suggest the Google Pixel 9 line includes a vanilla Pixel 9, a Pixel 9 Pro, and a Pixel 9 Pro XL. There’s also another one in the series that we’ll get to later.
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The vanilla Pixel and the Pixel Pro will have a 6.3-inch display, while the Pixel Pro XL will come with a 6.8-inch screen.
Reportedly, the base Pixel 9 will ship with 12GB of RAM. Its rear camera tray includes a 50-megapixel wide lens, together with a 48-megapixel ultrawide lens. On the front, you get a 10.5-megapixel selfie camera.
The two Pixel 9 Pro models push the RAM up to 16GB. They also add another 48-megapixel telephoto camera to the rear setup. The 42-megapixel front camera is quite a leap from the 10.5-megapixel in the base model.
Under the hood
All Pixel 9 phones will be powered by a Tensor G4 chipset. It’s built by Samsung and reportedly isn’t much of an upgrade over the Tensor G3.
The Pixel 9 phones are also rumored to have Adaptive Touch capability. This would help make its screens more reliable, especially when operated with wet fingers or a low quality screen protector.
The phones will also reportedly switch to ultrasonic fingerprint sensors. These are supposedly better than the optical sensors that you get with the current generation of Pixel phones.
The entry-level Pixel 9 will be available in 128GB or 256GB storage variants. The two Pro variants will add a third, 512GB capacity to the mix.
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A source also suggests that the Pixel 9 series will be the first to include the Samsung Exynos 5400 modem. The 5G modem supports two-way satellite connectivity. This would add enhanced emergency features in areas with no coverage to the Pixel 9 phones.
Pixel 9 Pro Fold
The fourth phone in the Pixel 9 bundle is the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Tech pundits were earlier calling the upgrade to 2023’s Pixel Fold as the Pixel Fold 2. However, Google set the record straight, once again reiterating its commitment to lace this device with Gemini AI.
Rumors suggest the Pixel 9 Pro Fold will undergo a design overhaul and could be narrower than its predecessor. They also expect the phone to be slimmer than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, which debuted recently.
Google has apparently also redesigned its camera module on the rear. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold now has a much smaller camera bump. Google has also moved the phone’s selfie camera to the corner of the screen.
Many of these design details were confirmed when someone spotted the Pixel 9 Pro Fold at a Starbucks in Japan. The phone was seen unfolded, wrapped in an official case, and propped up on a stand.
Just like its other two Pro brethren, the Pro Fold will ship with 16GB of RAM, and a three-camera setup at the rear.
But if you believe the rumors, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s cameras are quite underwhelming. According to reports, it’ll have a 48-megapixel primary camera, a 10.5-megapixel ultrawide, and 10.8-megapixel telephoto lenses. And on the front, you’ll get a 10.5-megapixel camera.
This is one rumor we hope doesn’t come true in the Made by Google event early next week.
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