Google Pixel 9 Pro Review: Android AI Done Right

Google has always made an excellent camera. What they have historically struggled with is making everything else around that camera excellent too. The Pixel 9 Pro is the first phone where that gap has genuinely closed. The hardware is competitive with anything at its price point, the software is the cleanest version of Android you can get on a phone, and the Tensor G4 chip finally makes good on the promise of on-device AI.

Design

The Pixel 9 Pro has a distinctive camera bar that runs the full width of the device — a design choice that divides opinion but makes Google phones instantly recognisable from ten metres away. The matte finish on the back feels premium and resists fingerprints admirably. At 199g it is meaningfully lighter than the Samsung S26 Ultra and more comfortable to hold single-handed.

The frame is polished aluminium, contrasting with the matte back glass. Build quality is exceptional. The IP68 rating covers 1.5 metres of fresh water for 30 minutes.

Display

The 6.3-inch OLED display runs at 1–120Hz and hits a peak of 3,000 nits. That number is higher than the S26 Ultra on paper, though real-world brightness in automatic mode feels comparable. Colours are accurate and the Always-On Display is one of the most useful implementations of the feature — it shows calendar events, media controls, and notifications without waking the screen.

Tensor G4 Performance

Google's in-house chip has historically trailed Qualcomm in raw benchmarks. The Tensor G4 narrows that gap meaningfully in day-to-day use, even if it still trails flagship Snapdragon chips on raw CPU benchmarks. Day-to-day performance is completely smooth — apps open instantly, multitasking is lag-free, and thermal throttling is a non-issue even during extended gaming sessions.

Where the Tensor G4 genuinely leads is in AI inference. On-device processing of voice, images, and text is faster than any competing chip. This is because the Tensor architecture is optimised specifically for these tasks rather than raw compute.

Camera

The triple camera system — 50MP main, 48MP ultrawide, and 48MP 5× telephoto — produces images that are nothing short of extraordinary in the right conditions. Google's computational photography pipeline has always been strong; the Tensor G4 makes it better. Low-light shots that would have required a tripod two years ago now come out of the Pixel 9 Pro clean and sharp.

Video is 4K at up to 60fps. Stabilisation is class-leading — clips shot walking look almost gimbal-smooth. Google's Video Boost feature, which uses cloud processing to enhance footage, produces remarkable results but requires a connection and takes time to process.

Battery

The 4,700mAh battery consistently delivers a full day — around 6.5 hours of screen-on time in mixed use. That trails the S26 Ultra, which is expected given the smaller cell. 27W wired charging is respectable rather than fast, filling from flat in a little over an hour. 21W wireless charging is competitive for the class.

Software and AI

Seven years of OS and security updates. Clean Android 16 with thoughtful additions rather than the kitchen-sink approach of One UI. Google AI features — Gemini integration, Live Translate, Call Screener, and Magic Eraser — are genuinely useful rather than demonstrative. This is what all Android phones should feel like.

Verdict