Another year, another Pixel. Well, in this case, four new Pixels — without including the Google Pixel 9a, which may arrive later this year. The Made by Google August event for 2024 introduced a mighty four new phones to the Pixel brand, the Google Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
All four have the usual upgrades you’d expect from a new model of any smartphone, but there’s a much more unwelcome surprise lurking beneath the shiny spec sheets: another price increase. The Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL cost $100 more than the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro — which were already $100 more expensive than the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. Yes, that means Google has increased its prices for two years running.
As a mindless follower of mobile tech, I should be furious about this. But instead, I’m a smug little bug. Why? Because it’s made me feel a lot better about my ill-fated Pixel 7 Pro purchase two years ago.
My long journey with the Pixel 7 Pro
I’ll be honest; I wasn’t sure I’d made the right choice when I preordered my Google Pixel 7 Pro in October 2022. Shortly after I’d put my money down, it became clear that all was not well in Pixeltown. When our Pixel 7 Pro review came out just a week after the device was revealed, Joe Maring’s experience was worrying. Software bugs had threatened to derail his time with the phone and continued to plague him until he finally put it down.
But weirdly, those bugs weren’t universal. Andy Boxall didn’t encounter anywhere near the same level of problems as Joe, and his time with it was pretty pleasant. Annoyingly, they both agreed the phone was excellent, bugs aside. So, it’s not as if I could justify canceling my preorder. Thus, I awaited my Pixel 7 Pro with trepidation.
And weirdly … it was all right.
OK, so it wasn’t perfect. I eventually stopped using it because it was just exceptionally annoying. Like Joe, I got a buggy phone, but my bugs were small, and less noticeable. Until they weren’t.
But now, in the cold light of day, after the Pixel 8 and Pixel 9, the Pixel 7 Pro seems like a real bargain.
I don’t have a reason to upgrade
But wait, wasn’t the Pixel 7 Pro a buggy mess? Well, yes — but it was also a very good smartphone underneath all that. The Tensor G2, while not a show-stopping processor, was still more than capable enough for me. The display was gorgeous. The camera, like all Pixel phones, was exceptional. The battery life was — well, OK, the battery life wasn’t great. But it was still acceptable.
When I think back to my time with the Pixel 7 Pro, I don’t remember the bugs, the crashes, or the frustration. I remember a great device that I really enjoyed using. It would surprise the man who wrote of his frustrations with the Pixel 7 Pro a year ago, and it surprises me now.
But I also feel extra happy with it because it’s become evident that not much has changed in the Pixel line since I bought my Pixel 7 Pro.
Oh sure, the processor has gotten better, the cameras have seen some small upgrades, and there’s a tweaked design — but there’s no new killer feature. The Pixel 8 Pro had a temperature sensor that … well, it was definitely one of the features of all time. But because so much about the Pixel 7 Pro was great to begin with, in my opinion there wasn’t much room for the Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro to expand.
But what about AI? Well, what about AI? How many of these features are you actually going to use on a daily basis? Heck, even the Magic Editor and Circle to Search — two features I fully admit are great — I completely forget about for weeks at a time. I’m not sure I’d mind too much if they suddenly disappeared from my life.
Is this the right decision?
Of course, my peers tell me I’m wrong. And maybe I am. I’ve read the reviews, too, and it seems as if the newest Pixels are some of the best Google has ever made, with incredibly good-feeling designs, the best Tensor processor yet, and an even better camera. But really, I don’t upgrade my phone because it’s more physically solid. I upgrade my phone when I feel like I’m missing out. And I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything this year — the same as last year.
Honestly, when I look at my Pixel 7 Pro, I don’t see all the features I’m missing from the new phones — instead, I see the $200 savings I made by investing in almost the exact same phone as the Pixel 9 Pro XL, but two years earlier. And that’s surely terrible for Google. But I don’t care about that; I have lost time to make up with the smartphone I should never have let go of.