The new Google Pixel 9 series features not two but four variants. This includes the tech outfit’s sophomore foldable, as Google has ditched the iterative naming scheme for a more accessible monicker. The top-spec ‘Pro XL’ variant flaunts the biggest display and battery size out of the three non-foldable Pixels. Google has also stepped up its hardware game and thrown down the gauntlet for other flagships. On the software front, the Pixel 9 Series showcases a versatile range of AI features, reminding everyone why it is the home of Android. However, all of these advancements come at a significant price as the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL fetches Rs 1,25,000. We used the smartphone as our daily driver for a week and put it through a series of tests to determine if it lives up to the price tag. Here is our in-depth review of the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL.
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In This Article
Google Pixel 9 Pro XL Review: Design and Display
Here’s what you get inside Google Pixel 9 Pro XL’s retail box:
- Smartphone
- USB Type-C to Type-C cable
- SIM ejector
- Safety Guide
The retail package is missing a power adapter and a basic phone cover. This is never a good look on a smartphone with a heavy price tag but it is slowly becoming the norm with only a few OEMs left that ship their product with the necessary accessories. The good thing about Pixel 9 Pro XL’s unboxing experience is that there’s no plastic packaging to be seen anywhere.
The hardware improvements on the Pixel 9 Pro XL place it in the top-tier list of smartphones along with the Samsung S24 Ultra and the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The glass back panel receives a matte finish which lends it an amazing in-hand feel. The Google logo is embossed at the centre of this panel and has a contrasting glossy finish. The flat aluminium rails are curved at the corners, reminding us of the Xiaomi 14. This frame has a smooth texture and attracts a fair bit of fingerprints after prolonged use. The glass back panel does not register any smudges at all.
One of the most talked about changes on the Pixel 9 series is the rear camera panel. Google has ditched the iconic camera visor for a pill-shaped cutout. While it has gained somewhat of a mixed response from the audience, we are big fans of the change as it gives the smartphone a cleaner look without robbing it of its personality. The smartphone is still instantly recognisable as a Pixel. Apart from the three lenses (more on that later), the rear cutout also houses a temperature sensor.
The side key and volume rocker are positioned on the right edge of the frame. The bottom section contains the speaker outlet, USB Type-C port, primary microphone, and SIM tray. The secondary microphone finds its way to the top edge of the frame. We would have preferred an IR blaster on the top edge of the frame but Google has chosen to place the 5G signal antenna there.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is the largest out of the three variants, rocking a 6.8-inch LTPO display. This display can hit an impressive 3,000 nits on the brightness scale, making it perfectly legible even under direct sunlight. The optical fingerprint reader from the previous generation Pixels has been replaced with a superior ultrasonic sensor on the Pixel 9. The result is noticeable immediately as it takes a gentle tap to unlock the device. As far as hardware upgrades go, this has to be one of our favourites.
Sleek, uniform bezels surround the flat OLED display. The touch response offered by this display is exceptional. There’s satisfying haptic feedback to go along with it, which makes the browsing experience very fun. There’s HDR10+ support onboard and the display can reach a 120Hz maximum refresh rate. We streamed a bunch of titles across platforms like Netflix & Prime Video on the smartphone and were very pleased with the viewing experience. The display produces detailed pictures that flaunt vivid colours. The audio output from the stereo speaker setup is rich and well-rounded.
The front and back panels on the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL receive Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection. The smartphone carries an IP68 rating and can survive being submerged up to 1.5 metres for 30 minutes.
Google Pixel 9 Pro XL Review: Performance and Cameras
Powering the Pixel 9 Pro XL is Google’s in-house Tensor G4 chipset. The top-spec Pixel packs 16GB RAM and is available in two storage variants – 256GB and 512GB. On the Geekbench 6 app, the smartphone scored 1,924 points in the single-core test and 4,574 points in the multi-core test. When we reviewed the Samsung S24 Ultra, it scored 2,165 (single-core) and 6,416 (multi-core) points.
The Tensor G4 chipset puts up the power required for lag-free everyday use. During the week-long review period, we did not hit a single snag or hiccup while performing routine tasks on the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. The apps load without any delay and multitasking on this device is a delight. Using the camera in direct sunlight does warm up the phone, but we did not come across any crashes or overheating warnings.
Pixel 9 Pro XL’s gaming performance is still a step behind other premium flagships like the S24 Ultra and gaming specialists like the iQOO 12 (read our iQOO 12 review here). We played titles like Call of Duty Mobile and Asphalt Legends Unite on the smartphone and were rather unimpressed by how the heat dissipation was managed. The back panel got significantly warm as we approached 40 minutes of gameplay. It is about time that Google equipped the Pixel with a better cooling system.
Google Pixel 9 Pro XL ships with Android 14 out of the box, which seems like an odd choice to us. Pixels are the home of Android, so it makes little sense to not use them to showcase your new software. Given the Android 15 rollout is just a few weeks away, Google could have managed the timelines better and debuted it on the Pixel 9 series. This also means that Google’s promise of 7 major OS upgrades will only take the Pixel 9 Pro XL to Android 21, the same as the Pixel 8 series.
While it may ship with last year’s Android OS, the Pixel 9 Pro XL has been infused with new AI features that make their presence felt in different spaces. To begin with, three new apps on the smartphone rely on Gemini AI in different capacities. Our favourite of the lot is the Weather app, which has a very tasteful aesthetic. The background of the app mimics the weather of the location. There are fun widgets for elements like humidity, wind velocity, UV index, visibility, and more. The AI-generated weather reports are generally on point, but we did notice that the app failed to generate them on certain occasions.
Next up, the Pixel Studio app is your standard AI image generator which produces passable results based on the prompts entered by the user. It isn’t up there with some of the leading AI image generators out there but it has a relatively faster render time. There are a few style presets you can choose from, but feeding custom style instructions as a part of the prompt does not produce the best results. Overall, this app was a hit or miss for us.
The Screenshots app collects all the screenshots you’ve taken of your device and stores them in one place. Every screenshot has an AI-generated meta description, which is surprisingly on point. You can organise your screenshots in different collections if you’re working on a project. Our favourite feature of this app is that it allows the user to search for a particular screenshot by entering the relevant keywords. For example, we took a screenshot of a WiFi password and the app related the relevant results when we searched for ‘WiFi’ or ‘password’. While this app is certainly not a gimmick, it begs the question of whether it would’ve been better to incorporate its functionalities into the regular Screenshots folder within the Google Photos app. Perhaps Google wants to keep this app’s features Pixel-exclusive for now.
Moving on, Google Gemini is a welcome addition to the new Pixel. Long-pressing the side button now triggers Gemini instead of Google Assistant. The AI engine taps into the functionalities of the old-school Assistant whenever necessary. You can have a free-flowing conversation with the AI assistant using Gemini Live, but it requires access to Gemini Advanced. Gemini Advanced is a part of the Google One package, but new Pixel users get a 1-year free trial.
The native camera app on the Google Pixel 9 series has a new Add Me feature. This feature comes in handy while taking group pictures when you don’t have a stand to prop up your phone. If you don’t want to burden a stranger with taking a picture, switching to this mode will yield decent results. Once you take the first shot, hand your phone over to another person in the group and assume your position in the frame. When the second shot is taken, the Pixel will stitch the two images together. The images appear natural and it takes a very keen eye to spot the minuscule flaws, if any.
The Google Photos app gets a couple of new generative AI features as well. The Magic Editor has a new Reimagine tool which analyses the elements of your picture and adds more stuff to it based on your prompts. Think of it as the opposite of the Magic Eraser. You can use the eraser to remove the road traffic on an image and the Reimagine tool to add some cars on an empty road. Both tools are tuned very nicely and produce good results.
Overall, the software experience on offer here is simply exquisite. The lack of bloatware gives this device a clean look. There is a good range of customisation options which can be used to give the Pixel a more personalised touch. The AI features do not seem like they are plastered on the device for the sake of being there. Instead, they are nicely woven into the software. If you don’t want anything to do with AI, you can easily ignore its presence on the device.
The top-spec Pixel has the biggest battery out of all the non-foldable Pixel variants this year. The 5,060 mAh battery offers incredible mileage, lasting an entire day even with heavy usage. We were able to clock up to 7 hours of screen time on the device before hitting 15% charge. Our daily tasks on the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL during the review period included media streaming, video calling, social media browsing, photo editing, navigation, instant messaging, and gaming. This phenomenal battery performance is only diminished by the device’s slow charging speed (maxing out at 37W). It took us 90 minutes to bring the Pixel to 100% charge.
A delectable photography experience is the cornerstone of every Pixel smartphone. The Pixel 9 Pro XL does not disappoint in this regard. The rear camera panel packs a 50MP primary shooter, a 48MP telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom, and another 48MP sensor for the ultrawide lens.
Pictures taken with the 50MP primary shooter in outdoor daylight conditions are balanced and detailed. The colours are rich without being boosted. The smartphone does a good job of exposing the sky perfectly and assigning it the appropriate colour. The dynamic range and contrast displayed in the images are also very good. There is no room for complaints here, the Pixel 9 Pro XL proves it is one of the best in the business.
The 48MP ultrawide camera puts up a great performance as well. The images taken with this camera are a tad softer but they display vivid colours and excellent composition. It needs to be mentioned that the field of view of this lens is wider than its peers.
The 50MP telephoto lens offers 5x optical zoom. Combined with intelligent photo processing, this camera produces tremendous results. There is no noticeable drop in quality up to 10x zoom, which is simply incredible. To have the option to take crisp pictures at 10x zoom is why you pay extra for a Pixel. We pushed the zoom to its 30x limit and were happy with what it offered. The resulting pictures maintained good composition and were able to decipher distant billboards and signs with ease.
We took a range of shots in limited lighting conditions and were pleased with how well the Pixel 9 Pro XL understood the scene and assigned accurate colours to the subject and the background. The primary shooter lets in a good amount of light and the smartphone brightens up the subject in the photoprocessing stage. Of course, you need to turn on Night Sight for the best results. The ultrawide camera also puts up a good performance in limited lighting, although the images are a little grainy.
In portrait mode, the smartphone does a good job of detecting the edges of the subject and separating it from the background. The images are well-focused and have a good amount of blur. The 42MP selfie camera takes good portraits as well, although they are a bit contrasty for our liking.
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Verdict
The Pixel 9 Pro XL belongs in the upper echelon of Android smartphones. The new design tweaks bring a fresh look to the device without compromising its identity. Google has stepped up the hardware on this device in a big way too. The display is brighter than ever before and the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor brings lightning-fast unlock speeds. The high-end build quality and even weight distribution elevate the in-hand feel of the phone to another level.
Android 14 delivers a familiar performance on the software front but it is the AI features that steal the show. We like how Gemini works in tandem with Google Assistant, which saves you the struggle of juggling between two voice assistants. The new ‘Reimagine’ tool is a fine addition to the Magic Editor. A versatile battery life ties the whole experience together.
Gaming performance and thermal management are two aspects where Google needs to bridge the gap between the Pixel and other Android flagships. The Tensor G4 chipset runs a little warm, especially while shooting videos in outdoor conditions. A better cooling system will vastly benefit the Pixel.
Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Pros
- Bright display
- Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor
- Seamless AI integration
- Excellent camera performance
- Versatile battery
Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Cons
- Gets warm while gaming and shooting videos
- Slow charging speed
