Last week’s poll suggests that the new Pixel 9 Pro could be the best-selling phone for Google. It has received the most positive votes and is most likely to grow in popularity if it also performs well in reviews.
It’s a great upgrade over the Pixel 8, although it also comes at a significantly higher price – concerns about pricing certainly appear in the poll. The positive side is that Google has more or less covered all the markets that would be interested in a Pixel phone, so availability isn’t an issue.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, the biggest smartphone of this generation, certainly feels expensive – most people are more concerned about its price than the cost of the new foldable! To be honest, $1,100/€1,200 is a lot to spend on a phone, even if you can keep it for 7 years.
But would you? All eyes are on the Tensor G4 because its performance doesn’t look competitive now, let alone in the 2030s. The chip is shared across all Pixel 9 models and all have 16GB of RAM except the vanilla phone (that one has 12GB, allowing it to run Google’s AI models on the device).
Speaking of which, the Google Pixel 9 faces an uphill struggle – it’s significantly more expensive, but lacks a telephoto camera and doesn’t have an advanced selfie camera either (it has a 10.5MP module instead of 42MP like the 9 Pro duo).
There is no LTPO display either, although the Galaxy S24 can be bought for less than $800/€900 and has an LTPO display and a 3x 10MP tele camera. The S24 series is also expected to get 7 years of support, so Google’s only advantage here is its first party features like Zoom Enhance (as said, One UI has its supporters too).
Is the Pixel 9 Pro Fold the best horizontal foldable that money can buy? Well, set aside those who don’t want a foldable, most people think Google is on to something (we think so too). People aren’t that interested in reviews because most people have already made up their minds. People are, however, interested in discounts. Seriously, $1,800 is a lot of money.
We have the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL in for review, so expect a detailed report soon. We should get the other products too, but they are scheduled to launch in September, so not right now. For now, check out our hot report on the Pixel 9 series.
