Over time, Google has saved us craving for a real iPhone contender. And it lastly comes true with the Google Pixel 9 Professional, which brings a number of compelling modifications during the last yr’s Pixel 8 Professional. The hole additional widens once we examine it to the Pixel 7 Professional.
The Pixel 9 Professional seems higher than the Pixel 7 Professional in virtually each regard. Does that imply you need to improve to the brand new telephones — plural because it now is available in two sizes? That’s precisely what we are going to reply on this article.
Earlier than we do this, right here’s a fast gist of what the brand new Pixel 9 Professional and the Pixel 9 Professional XL convey to the desk when in comparison with the Pixel 7 Professional.
Google Pixel 9 Professional vs. Pixel 7 Professional: specs
Specs
Google Pixel 9 Professional/Professional XL
Google Pixel 7 Professional
Measurement
Pixel 9 Professional: 152.8 x 72.0 x 8.5 mm (6.0 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches)
Pixel 9 Professional XL: 162.8 x 76.6 x 8.5 mm (6.4 x 3.0 x 0.3 inches)
162.9 x 76.6 x 8.9 mm (6.4 x 3.0 x 0.35 inches)
Weight
Pixel 9 Professional: 199 grams (7.01 ounces)
Pixel 9 Professional XL: 221 grams (7.8 ounces)
212 grams (7.48 ounces)
Display
Pixel 9 Professional:
6.3-inch Tremendous Actua LTPO1280 x 2856 pixels1-120Hz Dynamic refresh rateHDR10+3,000 nits peak brightness
Pixel 9 Professional XL:
6.8-inch Tremendous Actua LTPO1344 x 2992 pixels1-120Hz Dynamic refresh rateHDR10+3,000 nits peak brightness
6.7-inch Tremendous Actua LTPO1440 x 3120 pixels1-120Hz Dynamic refresh rateHDR10+1,500 nits peak brightness
Working system
Android 14
Upgradeable to Android 14
RAM & Storage
16GB + 128GB
16GB + 256GB
16GB + 512GB
16GB + 1TB
12GB + 128GB
12GB + 256GB
12GB + 512GB
Processor
Google Tensor G4
Google Tensor G2
Digicam
Triple rear cameras:
50MP major, f/1.68 aperture, 1/1.31-inch sensor dimension, OIS
48MP ultrawide, f/1.7, 123° discipline of view
48MP telephoto, f/2.8, 5x optical zoom, 1/2.55-inch sensor
Selfie digicam: 42MP selfie digicam, autofocus, 123° discipline of view
Triple rear cameras:
50MP major, f/1.85 aperture, 1/1.31-inch sensor dimension, OIS
12MP ultrawide, f/2.2, 126° discipline of view
48MP telephoto, f/3.5, 5x optical zoom, 1/2.55-inch sensor
Selfie digicam: 10.8MP selfie digicam, autofocus, 93° discipline of view
Video
Rear: As much as 8K@30fps or 4K@60fps
Entrance: As much as 4K@60fps
Rear: As much as 4K@60fps
Entrance: As much as 4K@60fps
Connectivity
Bluetooth 5.35GWi-Fi 7, tri-bandUWBNFC
Bluetooth 5.25GWi-Fi 7, tri-bandUWBNFC
Ports
USB-C (USB 3.2)
USB-C (USB 3.2)
Water resistance
IP68
IP68
Battery & charging
Pixel 9 Professional:
4,700mAh27W wired charging21W wi-fi chargingReverse wi-fi charging
Pixel 9 Professional XL:
5,060mAh37W wired charging23W wi-fi chargingReverse wi-fi charging
5,000mAh23W wired charging23W wi-fi chargingReverse wi-fi charging
Colours
Obsidian black, Porcelain white, Hazel inexperienced, Rose Quartz pink
Obsidian black, Snow white, Hazel inexperienced
Value
Pixel 9 Professional: Beginning at $999
Pixel 9 Professional XL: Beginning at $1,099
Began at $899 at launch
Google Pixel 9 Professional vs. Pixel 7 Professional: design
Joe Maring / Digital Developments
The complete Pixel 9 sequence brings main design modifications over the earlier generations. Foremost, it’s necessary to level out that the Pixel 9 sequence is barely extra numerous than earlier fashions; the Pixel 9 Professional comes with in two sizes — one with a 6.3-inch show and an XL with a 6.8-inch show. For sake of simplicity, we are going to discuss with each because the Pixel 9 Professional until there are particular variations to focus on.
As said in our Pixel 9 Professional XL evaluate, the brand new telephones convey an entire design overhaul, and really feel like a large improve. The newer design contains rounder components, a flat mid-frame, and uniform colours on the sections of steel and glass.
Andy Boxall / Digital Developments
The Pixel 7 Professional felt equally engaging on the time of its launch. The interaction of twin tones, particularly with the golden accents on the Hazel inexperienced again, appear charming. Nonetheless, as with every part, fading novelty can create a spot for extra fashionable designs, and the Pixel 9 Professional matches proper in.
Whereas Google goes for rounder corners than the Pixel 7 Professional, the curved edges on the again and the display screen have been changed, following different premium telephones such because the Galaxy S24 and the iPhone 15 Professional Max. How that impacts usability could also be subjective, however the Pixel 9 Professional appears brisker because of this.
The end of the design is as top-notch because it was again then, so we wouldn’t actually stress a lot about it. A bonus level goes to the Pixel 9 Professional for utilizing the newer Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2. There aren’t any cutbacks in sturdiness, and all the brand new Pixel telephones retain IP68 certification for defense towards mud and water.
Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Developments
The newer Pixel 9 Professional will get a lighter, extra ergonomic footprint if you’d like the identical options in a smaller dimension. In the meantime, the Pixel 9 Professional XL affords some advantages, together with a bigger show as large because the Pixel 7 Professional’s. If an even bigger show is your precedence, the following part particulars all of the methods it has modified for the reason that Pixel 7 Professional.
Google Pixel 9 Professional vs. Pixel 7 Professional: show
Joe Maring / Digital Developments
The Pixel 9 Professional sequence will get two choices for show sizes — a smaller 6.3-inch show on the Professional and a bigger 6.8-inch show on the Pixel 9 Professional XL. The previous is much like the usual Pixel 9, whereas the latter is similar to the Professional variants in earlier generations of Pixel telephones.
Meaning when you have the Pixel 7 Professional and want to improve to a equally large-sized telephone, the Pixel 9 Professional XL makes extra sense. The smaller Pixel 9 Professional is right if you’d like the identical options however in a lighter and extra compact kind. Nonetheless, exterior of the show sizes, the Pixel 9 Professional and the XL have the identical options , so your resolution will be based mostly completely on dimension.
As for different variations with the Pixel 7 Professional, the Pixel 9 Professional has a considerably brighter show that now goes as much as 3,000 nits in peak brightness mode — in comparison with the two,000 nits on the Pixel 7 Professional. The Pixel 7 Professional’s show already had a decent variety of particulars and vivid colours, and the Pixel 9 Professional’s Tremendous Actua show doesn’t allow us to down in that regard. It’s nonetheless as excellent because it was earlier than.
Joe Maring / Digital Developments
Whereas each sizes assist totally different resolutions on the show, you may cut back it to 1080p, saving battery. You get LTPO tech beneath that enables for variable refresh charges, ranging between 1Hz and 120Hz. This, once more, is applied to make sure that quicker refreshing doesn’t suck out the battery when it’s not wanted to.
Bodily, Google has ditched the curved edges alongside the show because it has on the again of the Pixel 9 Professional. It has additionally changed the iffy optical fingerprint scanner with an ultrasonic one, which is quicker and far more correct. You will have to decide on the display screen protectors to your Pixel 9 Professional extra rigorously to make sure the fingerprint scanner works correctly.
Google Pixel 9 Professional vs. Pixel 7 Professional: efficiency
Joe Maring / Digital Developments
Google has armed the Pixel 9 Professional with a brand new Tensor G4 chip — a particular improve over the Pixel 7 Professional’s Tensor G2. Structural enhancements over the G2 make the Tensor G4 thermally extra environment friendly and, due to this fact, much less liable to throttling points. Whereas there isn’t a large efficiency enhance over final yr’s Tensor G3, the soar from G2 to G4 can be felt instantly. The GPU onboard can also be extra environment friendly.
One factor that continues to be fixed is the truth that Google continues to be utilizing Samsung’s flagship Exynos chips as reference as an alternative of designing its personal chips. Google’s personal addition comes within the type of the neural processing unit, which ought to elevate the expertise whereas working AI-related duties. As soon as once more, the Pixel 9 Professional might be not probably the most splendid gaming telephone, and you need to look elsewhere for those who get pleasure from hardcore cellular gaming. Nonetheless, it ought to greater than suffice for much less resource-intensive video games.
Joe Maring / Digital Developments
Google has additionally upgraded the RAM on the Pixel 9 Professional, upping it from 12GB beforehand to 16GB. The presence of additional RAM lets you hold extra apps open within the background. Notably, Google reserves roughly three gigs of the 16 for superfast AI processing. So, in essence, you might be solely getting a further gigabyte of RAM. Irrespective, the change is welcome and may assist the telephone keep afloat over the following a number of years that Google guarantees to maintain it updated.
On the Pixel 9 Professional, Google provides a 1TB storage choice along with the prevailing 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB alternate options, all of which have the identical RAM.
The Pixel 9 Professional’s extra environment friendly chip, extra RAM, and {hardware} allotted for AI will certainly supply a greater efficiency than the Pixel 7 Professional.
Google Pixel 9 Professional vs. Pixel 7 Professional: battery and charging
Joe Maring / Digital Developments
The Pixel 7 Professional provided an honest one-day battery backup again when it launched, and never a lot has modified over time. If something, we anticipate the Pixel 9 Professional telephones to last more due to the extra environment friendly Tensor G4 chip inside. There are, nevertheless, a couple of caveats to notice.
The 2 Pixel 9 Professional variants differ is when it comes to their battery capacities and charging speeds. The smaller Pixel 9 Professional comes with a 4,700mAh battery whereas the larger one comes with a 5,060mAh cell. The latter is similar to the battery capability on the Pixel 7 Professional.
Concurrently, each Pixel 9 Professional telephones include quicker charging than on the 7 Professional. The smaller one will get 27W wired and 21W wi-fi charging. However, the bigger one expenses a lot quicker at 37W by a wired connection and 27W wirelessly.
Andy Boxall / Digital Developments
Notably, you would want a 40W charger for the Pixel 9 Professional. The identical received’t make the reduce for the XL, and also you would want to purchase a brick with no less than 45W output. The quick wi-fi charging speeds can solely be achieved utilizing second-gen Pixel Stand.
Though Google guarantees 24-hour battery lives with each new telephones, we managed to get longer backup throughout our respective opinions. So, that’s one other means the Pixel 9 Professional outweighs the 7 Professional.
Google Pixel 9 Professional vs. Pixel 7 Professional: cameras
Joe Maring / Digital Developments
Pixel telephones derive their names from the digicam, and have persistently impressed on this regard regardless of different deficits. The Pixel 7 Professional was capable of seize unbelievable pictures with all three cameras, and the Pixel 9 Professional solely improves upon them.
The Pixel 9 Professional will get an upgraded digicam system, each on {hardware} and software program ranges. Although the first 50-megapixel digicam continues to make use of the identical sensor inside, the lens has been upgraded with a quicker aperture. The identical goes for the 5x periscope telephoto, which additionally will get a wider aperture lens. In the meantime, the ultrawide has been upgraded from 12MP to 48MP. So has the selfie digicam, which now contains a 42MP sensor instead of the ten.8MP earlier. All of those cameras, together with the one on the entrance, include autofocus capabilities.
Joe Maring / Digital Developments
The cameras on the Pixel 9 Professional indisputably have an edge when it comes to specs. However in actual life, the margin might not be far lengthy. Causes to purchase the Pixel 9 Professional are as an alternative backed by AI options that improve pictures you are taking with it. As an illustration, the Auto Body function will mechanically place topics within the middle of body utilizing AI to generate some components of the picture. The fanciest of all of them is Add Me, which seamlessly provides folks lacking from pictures, leading to unbelievably real-looking outcomes.
Google Pixel 9 Professional vs. Pixel 7 Professional: software program and updates
Joe Maring / Digital Developments
Pixels are thought of the prime torchbearers of the Android expertise, bringing the most recent options earlier than every other producer (with exceptions for Samsung, in some circumstances). On the time of its launch, the Pixel 7 Professional was the primary telephone to run Android 13, however the expertise was marred by a barrage of bizarre, unexplainable bugs, a lot in order that Digital Developments Cellular Editor Joe Maring referred to as it one of many “buggiest and glitchiest smartphone” ever. Surprisingly, a few of our group members confronted these points whereas others didn’t.
A number of months later, Digital Developments’ Mark Jansen nonetheless couldn’t eliminate the bugs completely, which made him want he by no means purchased the Pixel 7 Professional. The bugs continued to plague some items even after the Android 14 replace final yr.
Compared, the Pixel 9 Professional comes with a comparatively secure person expertise, and we haven’t encountered any bugs thus far. Apparently, Google packaged it with final yr’s Android 14 as an alternative of Android 15, which received’t be accessible till October.
Regardless of that, the Pixel 9 Professional comes with a number of AI options backed by Google’s Gemini. This consists of Pixel Screenshots, which shops context about screenshots and helps discover them extra rapidly, a brand new Pixel Climate app, and different helpful options similar to Maintain for Me for ready on calls. Google additionally bundles a Pixel Studio app that makes use of AI to generate photos, however the ends in our case have been unfiltered and fairly regarding. Apart from this, the Pixel 9 Professional performs flawlessly.
Software program glitches on the Pixel 7 Professional Joe Maring / Digital Developments
Extra importantly, the Pixel 9 Professional will get seven years of promised Android updates whereas the Pixel 7 Professional solely will get three — Android 16 being its final. So, in case you are seeking to retain the telephone for longer, the Pixel 9 Professional makes far more sense.
Google Pixel 9 Professional vs. Pixel 7 Professional: value and availability
Joe Maring / Digital Developments
The Pixel 7 Professional started at $899 on the time of its launch. Whereas it has been formally delisted from Google’s on-line retailer, you should still be capable to purchase some leftovers on Amazon or Walmart. Although we wouldn’t advocate doing that — the Pixel 8 Professional is a a lot better choice if you wish to purchase an older Pixel for cheaper.
In the meantime, all the additional goodness on the Pixel 9 Professional comes at a further price. The smaller one begins at $999 whereas the Pixel 9 Professional XL is on the market at a beginning value of $1,099. The telephones are already accessible on the market, and you may get good-looking trade-in advantages by exchanging your older Pixel. As an illustration, the Pixel 7 Professional with a 128GB storage brings in as much as $540 of advantages presently.
Google Pixel 9 Professional vs. Pixel 7 Professional: verdict
Google
The Pixel 9 Professional brings a plethora of recent upgrades, particularly compared to the Pixel 7 Professional. This features a higher show, quicker charging, extra secure efficiency, and barely higher cameras. That doesn’t essentially imply you need to chuck your previous telephone away, particularly if it’s working positive. That is additionally true for those who purchased the Pixel 7 Professional solely for its cameras, that are nonetheless getting older effectively.
Nonetheless, when you have been craving for an extended software program replace, a extra putting design, and barely higher battery, upgrading to the Pixel 9 Professional is a no brainer. Furthermore, when you have been grappling with software program points or the slower fingerprint scanner on the Pixel 7 Professional, the improve makes much more sense. Commerce-in advantages upward of $500 ought to simply tempt you into making the plunge.
