This is the Pixel 9, what Google calls as a phone full of firsts, and to which I’m gonna partially agree. See, this particular phone represents a change in Google’s ever-changing approach to smartphones. First we had the Nexus which started expensive, then became affordable, only to become expensive again. Then we had the Pixel which started expensive, only to become a border-line midranger with the Pixel 5 in order to drop the price. By the time the Pixel 6 series launched, Google made the logical decision of giving users a choice. The base Pixel for those looking for a flagship killer, and the Pro Pixel for anyone wanting a flagship. At the time the marketing strategy was to call out the same guts with less cameras for less money, but us nerds knew that wasn’t necessarily true. These base models always missed out on RAM, screen refresh rate, and aside from less cameras, the sensors were also not the same even if performance was fairly similar.
Still, in my opinion, this is actually the first Pixel where the company walks the talk. In many ways, this is actually the least pretentious launch the company has done, because it’s a lot more Pro than I thought the minute I unboxed it. It’s almost like if I’m using a Pixel 8 Pro in certain ways, and in more of the good ways than the bad. I’m Jaime Rivera with Pocketnow and let me tell you what I mean by that in our full review
