Google's Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL are here, and yes, you heard me. The Pro comes in two sizes this year: regular and XL. The Pixel 9 series comes with many of the improvements you'd expect from a new phone when it comes to the camera, design, and processor. That's especially true for the Pixel 9 Pro, which comes in two sizes: the 6.3 in Pro and the 6.8 in Pro XL. But more importantly, these devices also provide a closer look at how Google sees AI playing a bigger role in our smartphones moving forward. And based on what I've seen so far, I think Google's ideas seem more practical in everyday use than Samsung's Galaxy AI. But I'll have to spend more time with the devices to really know for sure. First, here's a look at what's new. All three phones run on Google's Tensor G4 processor. They also have a fresh new look with flatter sides and some camera improvements. The Pro gets a new 42-megapixel selfie camera.

while the regular Pixel 9 has a 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera. That's in addition to the 50-megapixel wide camera on all models and the 48-megapixel telephoto camera on the pros. You'll also be able to take better panoramic shots, especially in low light, and video boost on the Pro models can now upscale footage to 8K. But what really stood out to me the most is the new software features on these phones. Google gave us a taste of how it sees AI being useful on the Pixel 8 last year, and now it's expanded on that by sprinkling new features throughout the operating system in areas like the camera, the phone app, and even the weather app. One of my favorites is the new screenshots app, which analyzes your screenshots so that it can answer questions. It's really meant for instances in which you're looking for something quickly, like maybe a Wi-Fi password, and you don't want to go hunting through your camera roll to look for the right screenshot. The

weather app is also getting AI-generated summaries, and the phone app will be able to summarize phone conversations. But one of the most interesting new features is called add me. This is meant to make it so that you can take a group photo even when someone else is taking the picture. Here's how it works: one person takes the photo, then another member of the group steps out of the photo to take a second picture, and then the photographer steps in. The phone then uses augmented reality to guide the photographer to frame the photo in a way that would account for the person who stepped out. After that, it merges the images together to create a photo where everyone is in it. On one hand, it seems like more effort than it might be worth; it's probably easier just to ask someone else to take the photo. But it also seems more useful and a bit more genuine than some of the features we saw last year, like best take, which combines images to make it look like everyone is smiling. Also, I want to point out that this feature isn't using

generative AI. It's not generating people in the photo; it's simply combining data from photos you've taken. But generative AI is cropping up in other apps. There's an image generator called Pixel Studio for creating new images based on prompts, and Reimagine, which feels like an evolution of Magic Editor. Overall, the Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL feel like a step forward for the Pixel series, but we'll know more once we've had time to test them. There's a lot more that's new with these phones, which you can check out in my full story on CNET. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.

Google Pixel 9, 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL Hands-On

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