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Phones · Google Pixel

Google Pixel 9 Pro

33owners with an opinion
57%of verdicts positive
16/12positive/negative since 2024
0happy after 3+ years

Praised for performance and display; criticized for software.

What owners wrote

Likes it
I'm getting 45fps on Skate 3 on my phone (Pixel 9 Pro, with the Pixel line being notoriously underpowered CPU wise) in the non-phone mode. I could try phone mode but touch screen controls aren't worth the loading time for me. Performance is excellent, most of these games aren't all that hard to run. I expect most recent mid-range computers are able to play all of these in a playable fashion, even the ones running on integrated graphics.
Likes it
Feeling like my Pixel 9 Pro was the best timed hardware buy I've made in recent years. The 10 dropped the physical SIM slot and Google started with their device tree shenanigans that year, with little to no improvements in exchange. I've got 16GB of RAM and 512GB in an ecosystem that shows every sign of regressing in capacities due to component price inflation. Very interested to see what Motorola does next year, however.
Likes it
I've been dailying a pixel fold 9 pro for a while now and love the thing. Seeing Apple finally join in is exciting as heck. I wouldn't hold your breath for a non visible crease though, nor for it to necessarily be class leading in its screen tech. I doubt any of it matters though, the Pixel Folds aren't exactly class leading in these regards either and the fold is just not a concern at all once you're using it. it's practically invisible from head on, and the "plastic screen protector" worries are really not an issue either. The durability of the inner screen is actually much better than you'd expect since it spends most of its pocketed life protected from external scratches. Mines still in great shape, even though I do not use a case nor any other form of protector. Where apple has a significant opportunity here is the software side though. Google unfortunately doesn't seem to be too interested in exploring UI concepts with the Fold, leaving that to OnePlus and Samsung, both of which have imo better multitasking experiences than the Pixel Fold. Apple making an iPhone that becomes an iPad would probably be enough for them to win significant marketshare, but I hope they use this opportunity to do some interesting things with UI beyond what the iPad can do.
Likes it
Running Gemma-4-E2B-it on an iPhone 15 (can't go higher than that due to RAM limitations) versus a Pixel 9 Pro, I don't really notice much of a difference between the two. The Pixel is a bit faster, but also a year more recent. The model itself works absolutely fine, though the iPhone thermal throttles at some point which really reduces the token generation speed. When I asked it to write me a business plan for a fish farm in the Nevada desert, it slowed down after a couple thousand tokens, whereas the Pixel seems to just keep going.
Neutral
Auto-hide the task bar at the bottom, and you've basically got the Gnome UI. Works just fine. It's the permanent screen reservation of the double task bar that really eats up the usable desk space. Samsung's task bar (when you enable the DeX integration on a tablet) also supports this and it makes for a fine user experience. Edit: I've enabled "force desktop mode" on my Pixel 9 Pro and hooked it up to my laptop dock. The UI looks almost exactly the same already. Taskbar at the bottom, notification bar at the top. It's clearly experimental; my ultrawide screen scales horribly, my keyboard app gets horribly confused, and interacting with the top bar triggers a full-screen tablet overlay that looks a bit weird. However, Chrome opens multiple windows and browses just fine. There are right-click menus, mouse hover interactions, window resizing features (though some apps require the "force resizable activities" flag). Ethernet Just Works, audio/video just works, and I can operate my phone screen while working in dock mode (so apps that absolutely refuse to work can still be operated through the touch screen).
Likes it
I only have one day's worth of light usage on a Pixel 9 Pro, but it feels at least as responsive as Nova Launcher. Zero lag in switching screens, opening the app drawer, or scrolling through apps - there is a control for the animation speed, but it doesn't seem to really have any impact, positive or negative.
Neutral
I've been using Cactus for a few months, great product! Makes it really easy to plug and play different models on my phone. If anybody is curious what a Pixel 9 Pro is capable of: Tokens: 277- TTFT: 1609ms 9 tok/sec qwen2.5 1.5b instruct q6_k Sure, here's a simple implementation of the Bubble Sort algorithm in Python: def bubble_sort(arr): n = len(arr) for i in range(n): # Flag to detect any swap in current pass swapped = False for j in range(0, n-i-1): # Swap if the element found is greater than the next element if arr[j] > arr[j+1]: arr[j], arr[j+1] = arr[j+1], arr[j] swapped = True # If no swap occurs in the inner loop, the array is already sorted if not swapped: break # Example usage: arr = [64, 34, 25, 12, 22, 11, 90] bubble_sort(arr) print("Sorted array is:", arr) This function sorts the array in ascending order using the Butbble Sort algorithm. The outer loop runs n times, where n is the length of the array. The inner loop runs through the array, comparing adjacent elements and swapping them if they are in the wrong order. The swapped flag is used to detect if any elements were swapped in the current pass, which would indicate that the array is already sorted and can be exited early.
Likes it
I switched to Android last year, from being a long time iPhone user, just for the fold. I got the google pixel fold 9 pro. I also got lucky as it's right when all the cool AI integration started (and it sounds like it doesn't really work on Apple). My first hand experience is that I will probably never be able to go back to a non-folding phone. The ability to get a small tablet on demand anywhere (subway, train, bed, couch, etc.) is really the next technological breakthrough we were waiting for. I think the pricing and the battery kinda suck, android also doesn't have the same polish as iOS, but most of the criticism that I've read is not really relevant (for example, I can't see the crease at all if I look at my phone) I use it a lot to read PDFs and watch videos, or when U want to multi task with two apps open at the same time (e.g. filling forms with a pic of my passport on the other screen). I also read mangas from it. Oh and the ability to use the back camera for selfies while being able to see myself is so great I use that all the time.
Neutral
for me it's the hope of at least some minor degree of longevity. I used a pixel 3 for six years, until the degenerating battery finally drove me to get a new phone, and I paid whatever exorbitant amount they wanted for a pixel 9 pro which will hopefully last me another six years
Likes it
I just switched from an iPhone 13 mini to a Pixel 9 Pro, and it's tough to admit but I can do so much more with my thumb on a big Android than a tiny iPhone. Mostly due to the back gesture always works (never need to tap the top left corner in some cases, and also being able to return to the 3 button navigation) and being able to pull down the notifications by sliding down on the main screen.
Neutral
Yeah, I am on Pixel 9 pro too and quick trade in check shows that upgrade would cost net ~500$(256Gb). Arguably ~250$ if buying 10 would extend the gemini subscription for a year -- not sure about the verbiage of the terms here. 100x "composite" zoom is nice but not sure if it's worth it.
Likes it
Looks like a minor improvement to the pixel 9 series. Honestly, that's fine, I'm pretty happy with my Pixel 9 Pro. The built-in magsafe charging magnets are a nice addition, although a case with magnets in it works for me for now. Of course, the #1 feature I'd like to see is expandable storage, which Google seems to be strangely against. #2 would be a headphones jack - Google has already reversed course on that one once, but another reversal seems unlikely.
Likes it
This seems like a good place to randomly drop my thoughts on switching from a Samsung s20+ to a Pixel 9 Pro. The hardware is excellent in the hand. The display is great, battery life excellent, the UI is snappy, does all the basic things I expect from a quality device. Over all, no huge regrets..... but... The scrolling in every app is just "different" from the Samsung, and in a "not as good" way. I moved to Pixel with the (as I now realise) very out dated idea that a Pixel phone would allow me MORE customisation and configurability than the Samsung/Galaxy environment. Oh boy, how wrong I was. Turns out there's a whole stack of Samsung bundled apps or ones available through their Galaxy store for free that I'd gotten so used to I thought it was default Android stuff. I miss: - per app volume control - nav bar customisation - lock screen config - many of the good lock apps - shake for torch - the samsung camera app - control of what apps CAN run in the background (the pixel murders everything) - subtle ways that Nova Launcher has problems So yeah, next time I'm in the market for a phone I think I'm going back to Samsung. I want Google to be better...
Doesn’t like it
I recently switched to an imported phone with a bulky 1" sensor (Vivo X100 Ultra) and although far from my Sony mirrorless, the quality of shots and color science went up dramatically compared to my older Pixel 9 Pro (way overprocessed) and iPhone 13 (way oversaturated and pretty low-res). This is not to say there's no AI or strong computational component to it, but larger and more expensive sensors, which still have not found their way in mainstream phones, do bring massive advantage if they are not killed by excessive AI processing (as, sadly, I saw multiple times when test-driving Samsung Ultra phones) Ironically enough, the Vivo ("Zeiss") color science also looks more accurate than most phones I've owned, and is pretty flexible at editing time.
Doesn’t like it
> I honestly think the only way they could see gains is with a well executed counter-culture statement. They are foolishly spinning their wheels going after the young iOS crowd, while alienating the people who actually buy pixel phones and on some level android, phones. I think a well executed counter-culture statement would do well for them. Make the move Apple did with their 1984 commercial. Also double down on openness, freedom, etc. The other problem Google/Android has with penetrating the "hip" young crowd (in the US) aside from iMessage is there's no Android brand like Apple has. There's pixel, but it's such a small market share. Most people it's a choice between iPhone or Samsung, not iOS or Android. The fact that Samsung has their own skin too means this new material UI will only apply to people on Pixels or other stock-like phones, of which there are fewer and fewer flagships for each year. Outside of that though, Android has an app quality problem as well. I use the McDonalds app as an example - every upgrade cycle I get curious about Android and try daily driving a pixel for the return period before inevitably ending back up on iPhone. My last run with the Pixel 9 pro, the android version of apps were horrible. Performance was so bad. The McDonalds app took full seconds to navigate between panes where it was instant on iOS, my banking app was equally horrible on Android. The watch wasn't great either. Google could have a slam dunk if they focused on the right thing…
Doesn’t like it
Lol, I've had my Pixel 9 Pro for a month but I forgot about that pixel screenshots app. The other features are unavailable in my country anyway, especially anything that has to do with calls.