Even though it’s only been eight months since Google released its flagship Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro Android phones, the tech giant has just confirmed that at least two brand new Pixel phones are coming to replace them – and they’re arriving earlier than expected.
Google updated its official store website with a link to a page on the Pixel 9 Pro, complete with an image showing the back of the phone and its rear cameras. The page says the phone is “Coming 13 August”, which means it’ll be unveiled just 10 months after the Pixel 8 last October.
The company also posted a teaser (below) on X:
The phone appears to have glossy sides and a refined camera housing that takes the triple cameras from the Pixel 8 Pro, 7 Pro and 6 Pro designs but no longer has a so-called ‘camera bar’ across the back of the phones, instead having them in a long rounded camera island. The phone also appears to have the temperature sensor seen on the 8 Pro, alongside a camera flash.
Google is going all-in on AI by the looks of it, and will integrate its Google Gemini AI assistant in the Pixel 9 and promote it heavily in advertising – “Get ready for a whole new era of smartphones”, it promises. That’s no surprise given Samsung has done the same with its Galaxy AI, and Apple is expected to launch Apple Intelligence with the new iPhone 16 in September – the latter’s timing potentially why Google has brought this Pixel launch forward to August.
On its new product page Google also confirmed the existence of its second generation Pixel Fold, which it is calling the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, a clunky name if ever we saw one. We reckon the image of the device looks a little like a prototype with an unusual camera module on the back with two black ovals containing a few camera lenses and other sensors, while the front outer display looks rounded like the screen on the Pixel 8a we reviewed earlier this year.
It appears Google could have abandoned the passport-sized design on the original Pixel Fold to produce a new foldable with similar dimensions to the excellent OnePlus Open, whose front screen is similar in size to a regular phone rather than the short and wide screen on the front of the first Pixel Fold. A third option is how Samsung does it on its Galaxy Z Fold 6, with a tall and thin outer screen.
Google hasn’t yet teased the inside screen of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. It’s also unclear if Google plans on announcing a regular, non-Pro Pixel 9 as it usually does. According to 9to5Google, the company is gearing up for a Pixel 9 Pro XL, returning to the ‘XL’ branding it last used on the Pixel 4 series. Since then, you could only get the Pro in one size. This rumour suggests there will be a large Pixel 9 Pro XL and a smaller Pixel Pro 9 – fingers crossed if you’re a fan of smaller phones that keep all the best specs.
Hopefully Google doesn’t increase its prices but we don’t have high hopes. The Pixel 8 Pro, good as it is, is the priciest slab-style Pixel ever at £999 while the Pixel Fold costs a whopping £1,799.
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