Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review: Peak Pixel

If the first few generations of Pixel phones were all about the camera and the second wave was all about catching up to the other heavy-hitters in the smartphone space, this current era is all about AI. Sure, AI-powered apps and hardware has always been a big part of Google’s go-to-market from the get-go but it feels like that undercurrent has steadily risen in recent times. 

If last year’s Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro were the first Google flagships built to last seven years, their 2024 counterparts offer a taste of what Google’s AI-powered future might actually like. This is more than just the most Google has ever leaned on AI as a selling point.

The Pixel 9 Pro XL might not fold, but it is hard to argue against it as a sign that we are fast approaching peak Pixel.

This year’s Pixel lineup is a little bigger, both in terms of options and physical size. 

If the Pixel 9 is the most budget-friendly option and the Pixel 9 Pro pairs up premium perks with a pint-sized form-factor, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is the whole shebang. It's got the same guts as the Pixel 9 Pro but features a larger 6.8-inch Super Actua screen clocked at 120Hz.

For those keeping track, that’s slightly larger than the screen found on last year’s Pixel 8 Pro. It’s also brighter and offers narrower bezels. Given that this year’s Pixel phones are more expensive than last year’s, this tangible improvement in how much screen you have to work with is a welcome one. 

It helps that the Pixel 9 Pro XL is nicer to hold and handle. Even as someone who has a preference for smaller devices, the feel-factor of Google’s most premium phone that doesn’t fold is slick enough that I couldn’t hold that against it. It’s a handful, but it’s not as heavy as you might expect.

In line with the premium trappings, the PIxel 9 Pro XL comes armed with all the usual perks. It’s got an IP68 rating for water resistance, 45W fast-charging (with the right charger), reverse and Qi wireless charging, stereo speakers, an in-display fingerprint sensor and face unlock. The temperature sensor introduced by last year’s Pixel 8 Pro also makes a return, though its inclusion here continues to be more head-scratching than anything else.

Where the last few Pixels have steadily refined a specific look, this one ditches it in favor of more rounded corners, polished aluminum edges and a "modern sculpted" camera bar design. The final result of this metamorphosis makes for a premium Google phone that feels like an Apple one. I mostly mean that in a complementary way, though it does make for a more homogeneous premium device compared to the playfulness of Pixel's past.

The front-facing half of the Pixel 9 Pro XL features a 42MP selfie camera. That’s a significant step up on the 10.5MP one in the Pixel 8 Pro.

Meanwhile, the back of the unit is home to a 50 MP ultra-wide lens, a 48MP wide lens and a 48MP telephoto lens. That camera hardware here is identical to what you’ll find on the Pixel 8 Pro, though the ultrawide lens on the more recent device does have a slightly wider field of view. 

The Pixel 9 Pro XL brings more than similarities to the table. Google’s Pixel line has always prided itself on working smarter rather than harder and this year’s plus-size Pixel Pro promises to deliver an arsenal of new camera capabilities that its predecessor does not currently possess. 

The list here includes a reworked panorama mode, an improved version of the Magic Editor which can now automatically frame images based on a variety of photographic techniques or adjust based on text prompts. In terms of making photo editing more accessible and intuitive to people who don’t have a background with things like Adobe Photoshop, there is definitely something to like about this. It's basically like filters for frame composition. It won't turn a bad photo into a good one, but it does a decent job of correcting a photo that's just off the mark into something that more closely resembles what you were going for.

Of course, much like the suite of AI-powered image fakery found in the Galaxy S24 it’s sometimes concerning in just how little friction there is turning a photo that accurately captured reality into something a little more fungible. There’s no better example of this than Google’s new Add Me feature. This inclusion builds off last year’s Best Take by allowing you to take an image, hand your camera to a friend and then use AR to seamlessly insert yourself into it as if you were always there.

That said, some of the new capabilities here (such as 8K video capture and 20x Super Res zoom) aren’t due until a later date. What’s more, given they rely on off-device processing, it’s entirely possible that they’ll also come to the Pixel 8 Pro before long. 

Still, if you pick up the Pixel 9 Pro XL with the expectation that it’ll deliver top-notch smartphone photography then you’re unlikely to be disappointed.

Under the hood, the Pixel 9 Pro XL runs on the new Tensor G4 with 16GB RAM and up to 512GB onboard storage. That’s an extra 4GB on the previous model, which is nice to have but I can’t say that the difference is as noticeable as either the upgraded screen or reworked design. The device is also armed with a winning combination of Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 and 5G connectivity.

Apps loaded fast, games like Star Wars: Hunters, Dune Imperium, Zenless Zone Zero and League of Legends: Wild Rift ran smoothly and without issues. While the performance of the Tensor G4 isn’t likely to keep pace with whatever you’ll find inside this year’s iPhone Pro, there’s not a lot to say (or complain) about here. On the other hand, there's a lot to unpack when it comes to the AI-powered apps and features that the Tensor G4 enables.

The first of these  is Pixel Screenshots. Envisioned as a more thoughtful (and opt-in) take on Microsoft's ill-fated and infamous Recall feature, the idea here is that you can tell your phone to remember something for later. In practice, it’s neat but your mileage is definitely going to vary based on how willing you are to remember it and use the feature. Bringing up the screenshots folder in Google Photos isn’t that much more effort and it doesn't involve juggling yet another app. More broadly, I found Pixel Screenshots to be much better at vague queries ("What was that podcast Alex sent me?")  than it was specifics ("Show me the showtimes for Dream Scenario that I saved") requests. Like most of the AI-powered tricks that Google deal in, it can be very hit-or-miss.

Then, there's Pixel Studio. This one is a prompt-based image generator akin to stuff like DALL-I and the many other AI-powered sketch pads out there nowadays.  You fill in the text box and Gemini will do the rest. This isn't not terribly different from the many other such apps, but if you haven't messed with the tech before I can imagine there being a decent amount of novelty value to doing so here. Just don't expect the results to hold up to much scrutiny.

As with the rest of the Pixel 9 range, the Pixel 9 Pro XL comes with 7 full years of software and security updates and 12 months of Google One AI Premium subscription. This add-on gets you access to Gemini Advanced and Gemini Live. The former is best version of Gemini that Google offers while the latter lets speak to Google’s chatbot in real-time like you would a person.

Think Google Assistant, but more dynamic and free-flowing. Gemini Live always sounded robotic, but I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of topics I could throw at it. Where the Google Assistant could only point you in the right direction of answers to the questions it couldn't compute, Gemini can do everything from provide information on the likes of the newly-announced Motorola Moto G85 5G, recommend cafes for me to visit while I’m in Prague, help me formulate an army I could field in Warhammer 40,000 or prepare to run a session of Blades in the Dark with my friends.

These examples are all very specific to me and my interests, but that’s probably the experience that everyone is going to have using this particular tech. There’s a universe of possibilities and a lifetime of questions you can throw at this thing and even if the accuracy of the answers you get might be a gamble, the fact that you aren’t being stonewalled make Gemini Live a more intriguing voice-powered experience than the Google Assistant ever was.

That said, there’s still a bit of latency in the mix and an odd number of invisible walls to run up against. For instance, there are a number of basic functions that Google Assistant offers that Gemini Live doesn’t and its ability to integrate across multiple Google accounts and services is inconsistent at best and more frequently frustrating than I'd like. I'm mostly happy with it as an evolution of the experience that the Google Assistant once offered, but if your expectations go beyond that then it won't take long for reality to fall short.

While faster AI app processing is the key metric that Google are putting forward, the Tensor G4 does also come kitted out to deliver 20 per cent faster web browsing, 17 per cent faster application opens and improved power efficiency that adds up to an impressive 20 per cent improvement in battery life. 

That last one more-or-less aligns with my experience using the Pixel 9 Pro. Prior to reviewing this device, I’d been using the Pixel 8 Pro as my daily driver for just shy of a year. By comparison, the 5000mAh cell inside the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL delivered an experience that felt a bit better. It is weird that there’s no Qi 2 connectivity though.

Relying on the Pixel 9 Pro XL, I’d usually end the average day with about 60% charge remaining and could comfortably make it through two days of usage on a single charge Burned down from 100% to zero using video streamed over WiFi, the device lasted 20 hours and 59 minutes. That result puts it above the likes of the Galaxy S24.

Recent years have seen flagship devices like the iPhone 15 and Galaxy S24 Ultra creep upwards in price but offer too little to show with it. Can't say I’m thrilled that this year’s Pixel phones have followed that trend.

That said, I can’t help but respect the myriad and tangible ways in which Google has gone about making that increase in the asking price feel earned. The Pixel 9 Pro XL isn’t an outright overhaul, but it does offer a decent upgrade on almost every front. The screen is bigger and nicer. The processor is faster and more power efficient. The front-facing one is a significant upgrade and the rear-mounted one comes with a few new tricks. The AI tricks aren't going to be for everyone, but if they're your jam then you're getting a bunch of new ones to play around or work with.

In a landscape littered by premium smartphones that do the bare minimum when it comes to yearly updates, Google deserves praise for offering an overhaul that tunes up almost every aspect of its plus-sized Pixel phone. At the end of the day, more is more versus doing more with less isn't that close a competition.

If you don’t need a foldable screen there’s a very strong argument that the Pixel 9 Pro XL isn't just the best Google phone to buy in 2024 but the best Android has to offer right now.