The Google Pixel 8 range might still be fresh in our minds, but that doesn’t mean the Pixel 9 range isn’t already deep in development behind closed doors at Google HQ.
But with the Pixel 8 range only having been on the market for a little over two months, it’s surely too early to discuss the Pixel 9 range right? Wrong.
We might still be just under a year away from its potential launch, but rumours are already circulating about what to expect from the Pixel 9 range – and if true, it sounds like a particularly interesting year for the Google flagships.
Here’s everything there is to know about the Google Pixel 9 range so far, from release date and pricing predictions to the latest leaks and rumours.
When will the Google Pixel 9 be released?
With the Pixel 8 range only making its debut in October 2023, don’t expect the Pixel 9 range to appear anytime soon.
That said, we are almost certain that it’ll appear in 2024, and we can get a good idea of when based on previous Pixel launches. That’s because, with the exception of the Pixel 5’s late September reveal, all Pixels have launched in October, leading us to believe that the Pixel 9 range will appear in or around October 2024.
Like we said, you’ve still got a while to wait!
If we hear anything different in the meantime, we’ll be sure to update this section.
How much will the Google Pixel 9 cost?
With the potential release just under a year away, there isn’t much online in the way of pricing rumours; as with most phones, these elements are some of the last to be finalised before launch.
However, with the Google Pixel 8 range rising in price compared to the Google Pixel 7 range, it’s assumed that Google will want to keep the phones at around the same price – two price hikes in two years would be a hard pill to swallow, after all.
That means a potential price tag of £699/$699 for the regular Pixel 9, while the Pixel 9 Pro could set you back around £999/$999, but that’s all unconfirmed for now.
Latest Google Pixel 9 rumours
With around ten months left until the reveal of the Google Pixel 9 range, it shouldn’t surprise you that very little about the phone is currently known. Some elements – like a new chipset – are almost guaranteed, while other elements, like a rumoured improvement to the Pixel’s virtual assistant, are yet to be confirmed.
That all out of the way, let’s delve into all the latest rumours and leaks about the Google Pixel 9 range.
A new chipset
One of the most obvious upgrades of the Pixel 9 will be its chipset. It’s a feature that gets an upgrade every year like clockwork, not just with the Pixel range but practically every phone on the market.
Given that the current Tensor G3 was revealed with the Pixel 8, the G4’s announcement alongside the Pixel 9 seems like a sure thing. That’s not to say the Tensor G3 has had its day – it’ll likely be included in the budget-friendly Pixel 8a and top-end Pixel Fold 2 sometime in 2024 – but the focus of the Pixel 9 will be elsewhere.
That also ties nicely into rumours about a potential Google Assistant replacement, powered by GenAI. GenAI support has been baked into competing Dimensity and Snapdragon chipsets but is yet to make an appearance on Google’s chipset. If true, I think we can guess what the focus of the G4 will be…
A new, exclusive virtual assistant
As we just alluded to, one of the other huge rumours about the Google Pixel 9 range is that it’ll ditch the regular ol’ Google Assistant for something all-round more capable.
Dubbed “Pixie”, the virtual assistant would allegedly be powered by Google’s Gemini AI model – a competitor to ChatGPT 4.0 that Google claims offers “current state-of-the-art results on 30 of the 32 widely used academic benchmarks used in large language model (LLM) research and development”.
It comes after the failure of Google’s PaLM 2.0 to properly compete with OpenAI’s popular artificial intelligence. You can learn more about Gemini in this Google blog post if you’re curious about the underlying tech.
The Information claims it’ll launch first on the Google Pixel 9, but that won’t be the only Google tech to get the advanced virtual assistant. “Eventually, Google wants to bring the features to its lower-end phones and devices like its watch”, the publication stated, but provided no timeline of when to expect that.
It’s also not currently known how Pixie will differ from the regular Google Assistant. Still, it’s safe to assume that it’ll all be generated on-device – removing issues around internet access and privacy, two of the most significant factors for GenAI until now – and that it should be able to provide a much more personalised virtual assistant experience.
It’s certainly an exciting idea, and one that we hope actually makes it to the Pixel 9.
A larger display
The Google Pixel 9 range could be bigger than the Pixel 8 collection – according to analyst Ross Young, anyway. Young has a pretty accurate track record when it comes to screen-related leaks in the mobile space, with correct predictions on recent models of iPhone and more.
That said, Young believes that the Pixel 9 collection will be larger than the equivalent Pixel 8, although he has yet to go into specifics about what exactly we should expect.
It is a little odd considering Google has consistently shrunk the display of the regular Pixel for the past few years – the Pixel 6 had a 6.4-inch display, while the Pixel 7 had a 6.3-inch screen, and the Pixel 8 reduced that further to 6.2 inches. It’s possible that it could make the jump back to the same 6.4 inches as the Pixel 6, but that’s just an educated guess from us.
The larger Pixel has consistently had a 6.7-inch display over the past few years. That has been the go-to choice of display size for many brands, with 6.7-inch displays available on the likes of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, OnePlus 11 and Galaxy Z Flip 5, but some brands are starting to edge towards even larger 6.8-inch screens, like that of the Galaxy S23 Ultra and OnePlus 12.
Google going 0.1 inches larger to compete with the big-screen competition seems more likely than the regular model juicing up, but we’ll have to wait and see for now.
