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No 2024 flagship phone is as confusing as theGoogle Pixel 9 Pro.
The Pixel 9 Pro is not a full-on successor.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Not entirely, at least.
Spoiler alert: the Pixel 9 Pro scores higher.
But is it as simple as that?
Of course it isnt.
Lets take a closer look.
That would be the Pixel 9 Pro XL.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Think whatAppledoes with the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Interestingly, the Pixel 8 Pro isnt too much heavier than its younger brother.
At 213g, its a relatively trifling matter of 14g.
The Google Pixel 8 Pro(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Both are IP68 rated, too.
Its not just the size that differs in these two designs, either.
While the new phone has a compact 6.3-inchOLEDscreen, the older one uses a 6.9-inch panel.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro
The specs are otherwise quite similar.
Other than size, the single biggest difference here is brightness.
The Pixel 9 Pro gets way brighter, hitting a peak of 3,000 nits inHDRscenarios.
The Google Pixel 8 Pro
These two points inform the fact that these two phones have very similar and similarly effective camera setups.
Both have the same 50MP 1/1.31 main camera with an f/1.7 aperture.
Both also have the same 48MP 1/2.55 5x periscope camera with an f/2.8 aperture.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro
There are slight differences with the third and final camera, however.
If they sound like minor changes, youd be right.
Even so, thats not why we awarded the Pixel 9 Pro camera full marks in our review.
The Google Pixel 8 Pro
It can also up-res4Kvideos to8K, should you wish it to, which the Pixel 8 Pro cant do.
To be brutally honest, its a pretty minor upgrade in raw CPU and GPU terms.
Naturally, then, we wouldnt choose performance as a major reason to choose one over the other.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro
But the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 8 Pro dont exist in a vacuum.
Both of these phones fall way behind their contemporaries in terms of raw performance.
We are talking about two Google phones, after all.
The Google Pixel 8 Pro
Thats unfortunate, but its not a deal breaker.
Googles UI remains one of the cleanest and most intuitive around.
However, wed say that the Pixel 9 Pro has slightly superior stamina.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro
Neither is among the longest-lasting phones on the market, but theyre perfectly adequate in the stamina stakes.
Perhaps the biggest upgrade in the Tensor G4 is its energy efficiency rather than its outright performance.
Neither phone charges up very quickly, though.
The Google Pixel 8 Pro
The Pixel 9 Pro might get you a tad more, but there isnt much in it.
For another, Google has gone back to the drawing board on the familiar Pixel aesthetic.
For everyone else, though, the Pixel 9 Pro is the better buy.
Using Reimagine in Google Photos to change a picture on the Pixel 9 Pro(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
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Using Reimagine in Google Photos to change a picture(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Using Reimagine in Google Photos to change a picture(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The Google Pixel 9 Pro
The Google Pixel 8 Pro
