The Android iPhone: Google Pixel 9 Pro XL long-term review

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL has been with me for almost 14 days, and I’m already pretty sure that the Pixel 9 Pro is the best smartphone you can buy right now.

Design: the Apple effect

Pixel smartphones have come a long way. A few years ago, they were still made entirely of plastic and garishly colorful. That changed with the Pixel 6, and with the Pixel 9 the design is at a level you otherwise only know from Apple and Samsung. When you unpack it, you get the full Apple effect. Not a huge amount has changed compared to its predecessor, but the minimal changes make the device look more premium and modern.

The edges are now flat and shiny, and so is the display, with a matte glass back. The similarity to a current iPhone is striking, but for me that is a good thing. Apple still designs devices very appealingly, and here you have an iPhone in your hand that runs on Android. The first Android iPhone combines Apple’s design with the possibilities and innovations of Android. It is not an iPhone clone anyway: the more strongly rounded corners and the unmistakable camera bar give it a look of its own.

Display and security

The OLED display is among the best on the market and gets up to 3,000 nits bright. You can read it in blazing sun just as well as in the dark. On security, the Pixel catches up to the iPhone: it now has an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner that is much more secure than the previous optical one and works with outstanding accuracy.

Performance and battery

The Pixel 9 Pro and the Pixel 9 have Google’s own Tensor G4. In benchmarks, it scores much worse than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, but that doesn’t match reality at all. The Pixel 9 Pro is the smoothest smartphone I have ever held. Everything opens, closes and switches insanely fast, as if you were operating the interface with your finger alone. For gamers, there is an additional vapor chamber for cooling, so the device stays smooth even in graphically demanding games.

The Tensor G4 is more energy-efficient, and battery life is better than on the Pixel 8 Pro. My Pixel 9 Pro XL has 5,060 mAh. I get about 7 hours of screen-on time, which is a good two days, and more with a lot of Wi-Fi. That is perfectly enough for me.

Gemini and AI

The processor and 16 GB of RAM are also needed for Google’s AI model Gemini. New features keep being added. The standard features include road trip planning, a nutrition or workout plan and writing emails. With Gemini Advanced, you bring the AI into Gmail, Google Docs and other applications. For Pixel 9 buyers, it is free for the first year, after that it costs €21 a month. Right now I don’t see that much use for it yet, which is probably why it is free.

Camera and AI features

The triple camera system consists of a 50-megapixel wide-angle camera, a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera with macro focus and a 48-megapixel camera with a 5x telephoto lens. Photos and videos are outstandingly good, and the AI improves them further. During processing, you can sometimes even watch it happen, and it occasionally takes a moment. I always find the results successful.

On the Pixel 9 or 9 Pro, there are essentially three new AI features:

1. Best crop: AI suggestions to change the focus of a picture after the fact, for example if you are standing at the edge in a selfie.
2. Reimagine: You circle something in the photo and tell it with a prompt what should be changed, currently only in English. It works incredibly well, but for me it is more of a gimmick at the moment.
3. Add Me: For me, the real highlight. In group photos, often only one parent appears in the family album because the other one takes the pictures. Google solves this by having you take a second photo and merging the two together.

This is exactly what I love about tech companies like Google, and what I have painfully missed at Apple for 6 years: innovations that solve everyday problems and cool features that are fun.

Price and verdict

The Pixel 9 Pro costs €1,100. That is still less than the competition charges for its flagships, and the price will drop a bit more, in my experience. For the very first time, I have the feeling that even a recommended retail price (RRP) feels justified to me. The Pixel 9 Pro is more stylish than its predecessor and, with the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, also more secure, battery life has been improved, and new AI features have been added. That is how you bring a new version of a smartphone to market.