Intro
OK, so, if you own a good old Pixel 7 Pro and are looking to replace it — it’s the Pixel 9 Pro XL you should be looking at. Well, after two years of advancements, is an upgrade worth it? Let’s delve in and see!
Google Pixel 9 Pro XL vs Pixel 7 Pro differences explained:
| Pixel 9 Pro XL | Pixel 7 Pro |
|---|---|
| Evolved design, flatter sides, pill-shaped camera bar | Old style curved screen and soft edges, end-to-end camera vizor |
| 6.8″ Super Actua display, 20:9, 486 PPI | 6.7″ OLED, 19.5:9, 513 PPI |
| Triple camera system | Triple camera system |
| 16 GB RAM / 128 GB to 1 TB storage options | 12 GB RAM / 128 GB to 512 GB storage options |
| 5,060 mAh battery | 5,000 mAh battery |
| 37 W charging 23 W wireless Reverse wireless |
23 W charging 23 W wireless Reverse wireless |
Table of Contents:
Design and Display Quality
Signs of the times
The Pixel 9 Pro XL comes with a slight redesign — now flatter around the sides, and the camera module on the back is in the shape of a flat pill. The Pixel 7 Pro looks both old-style and futuristic, with its curvy glass — is this the new retro-futuristic? Yes, the curved display is going the way of the dodo. But the vizor-shaped camera module on the back is still cool.
This translates to slight body size differences — but, in general, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is about the same size as the Pixel 7 Pro. It’s a smidgen thinner, but also very slightly heavier. Rest assured that if you are coming from a 7 Pro, you will adjust very, very quickly.
The camera vizors may be different shape, but they serve the same purpose. They won’t let your phone lay flat on a table, but there will be much less wobble, due to the full horizontal length of them. And they can serve as finger rests — those are the positives that fans of the Pixel design will point out. We also have the same hardware controls (being power and volume buttons), and the same under-screen fingerprint scanner.
Worth noting, the Pixel 9 Pro XL‘s face unlock is enhanced and extra-secured with the power of AI. You can now use it to unlock your financial apps, too.
The new Pixel 9 Pro phones come in a quadruple of colors — Obsidian, Porcelain, Hazel, and Rose Quartz. The Pixel 7 Pro was available in Obsidian, Snow, and Lemongrass — Google was taking a lot less risks a couple of years ago!
Both screens are protected by Gorilla Glass Victus — the Pixel 9 Pro XL gets Victus 2 — and have resolutions to ensure super sharp imagery — 486 pixels per inch on the Pixel 9 Pro XL, 513 PPI on the Pixel 7 Pro. And we have IP68 dust- and water-resistance on both devices.
Performance and Software
Tensor G4 is 2 Gs more than Tensor G2!
We don’t have exact comparisons to the Tensor G2, but we guess it’s safe to assume it’ll be slower, right? For what it’s worth, the Pixel 7 Pro in our office still runs fine. Tensor chips were never about benching top numbers, and have always been about the subtle features and Google Assistant enhancements.
Google is betting heavy on AI and Gemini. And we get a lot of new tricks, as Gemini is now merging with the Google Assistant and Android itself:
- Multimodal integration – you will be able to ask Gemini to pull data from multiple of your Google apps and services and accomplish tasks with them. For example “Find my resume from Drive, summarize it in a paragraph”, or “On which day next week will I be free to go to the movies?”.
- Gemini Live – natural conversations with the Assistant. Interrupt and change topics on the fly!
- Add Me – when taking group photos, take a picture of the group, then swap in with someone else. Pixel AI will be able to stitch a photo as if you were all in it
- Auto Frame – part of the Magic Editor. Will edit and change framing of photos, based on what the AI knows about good photography practices
- Reimagine – edit a photo via text prompt. Type out what you’d like to see and have the AI edit the photo for you
- Video Boost – will upscale video up to 8K resolution. Now works twice as fast
- Weather app – Gemini Nano will now give you a quick summary of weather conditions
- Magic List – ask phone to create complex shopping lists automatically. “Plan a taco dinner for 6, one vegetarion option”
- Screenshots app – use Gemini Nano to quickly recall old screenshots that you once took to remember something. On-device processing only
- Call Notes – comes up after a voice call with a quick summary of your conversation. On-device processing thanks to Tensor G4
We don’t know if and when any of these features will trickle down to the Pixel 8 and Pixel 7 before it. But there are some old Google Assistant features, that are still available across the contemporary Pixel phones:
- Call Screening – Google Assistant will pick up and take a message for you. You see real-time text transcript of the message and can choose to pick up
- Direct My Call – when calling a help line, Google Assistant will show you in text which number to press, so you don’t need to wait for the slow voice instructions
- Hold For Me – when calling a help line, Google Assistant will stay on the call and notify you when someone finally answers
- Voice Message Transcriptions – transcribe voicemails to text
- Best Take – after multiple group photos, choose between the various faces from every shot to compose one picture where everyone looks their best
- Photo Unblur – remove blur from any photo — even old photos, not taken with a Pixel phone
It’s also worth noting that the new Pixels now get seven years of software support — seven major Android updates! The Pixel 7 Pro‘s support will be ending in October 2025 — so it has 14 months until you are on your own! Well, not quite, you will still be getting security patches until October 2027, but no new Android builds and probably no feature drops.
Camera
The most powerful Pixel camera ever
Google proudly announced a huge camera upgrade for the Pixel 9 series — not you, Pixel 9 Fold. OK, for 3/4 of the Pixel 9 series.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL now gets:
- 50 MP main camera
- 48 MP ultra-wide camera with macro focus mode
- 48 MP 5x telephoto camera
But we are not limited to using those 0.5x, 1x, 5x steps. Pulling an iPhone, the Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL will give you quick zoom steps of 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 5x, and 10x. Google calls it “optical quality” — this is common practice nowadays where manufacturers leverage the high-quality sensors and lenses to crop into a high-res sensor’s image and use advanced computational photography algorithms to achieve a clear, realistic image.
That aside, we get a maximum of 30x SuperRes zoom on these Pixels — no crazy 100x space zoom, not even on the Pixel 9 Pro XL.
- 50 MP main camera
- 12 MP ultra-wide
- 48 MP 5x telephoto camera
It’s still a very competent camera phone — specifically thanks to Google’s postprocessing algorithms, which it has been developing for years. But… you know, we do expect the Pixel 9 Pro XL to do bether. Hold on until we get to run the camera benchmark and go through a few dozen samples!
Battery Life and Charging
Where size matters
The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL got a tiny upgrade in battery capacity. Specifically, it’s got a 5,060 mAh battery, while the Pixel 7 Pro has a 5,00 mAh cell — pretty standard. But since the Tensor G4 chip is supposedly even more efficient — we expect significant differences in the battery tests, once we go through them.
But there is a definite upgrade in charging — the Pixel 9 Pro XL can now draw 37 W on the wire, meaning it charges from 0% to 70% in 30 minutes — as per Google’s specs. This is definitely faster than the Pixel 7 Pro, which gets 49% of battery for the same 30 minutes, as per our tests.
Specs Comparison
| Specs | Pixel 9 Pro XL | Pixel 7 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 6.0 x 2.8 x 0.3 in (152.8 x 72.0 x 8.5 mm) |
6.41 x 3.02 x 0.35 in (162.9 x 76.6 x 8.9 mm) |
| Weight | 221 g | 212 g |
| Screen | 6.8-inch, 1344 x 2992 OLED, 1-120 Hz |
6.7-inch, 1440 x 3120 OLED, 10-120 Hz |
| Processor | Tensor G4 | Tensor G2 |
| RAM, Storage and Price | 16 GB / 128 GB $1,099 | 12 GB / 128 GB $899 at launch |
| Cameras | 50 MP wide, f/1.68 48 MP ultra-wide, f/1.7 48 MP telephoto, 5x, f/2.8 42 MP front, f/2.2 |
50 MP wide, f/1.9 12 MP ultra-wide, f/2.2 48 MP telephoto, 5x, f/3.5 10.8 MP front, f/2.2 |
| Battery Size | 5,060 mAh | 5,000 mAh |
| Charging Speeds | 37 W wired 23 W wireless Battery share |
33 W wired 23 W wireless Battery share |
Which one should you buy?
Well, it’s hard to argue that the Pixel 9 Pro XL is a cool, shiny new toy. The Super Actua display is brighter, more vibrant, and just more fun (so was last year’s Actua). The redesign is a breath… ok, a slight quick inhale of fresh air. And the camera — the promises, at least — sounds like it’s a step and a half up.
The new AI features will definitely draw techies who love to be on the cutting edge of that particular tech wave. Though, we are a bit irked at how mum Google is on which features (if any) will be arriving to the older flagships.
If you own a Pixel 7 Pro now, yeah — you are justified to be itching for that upgrade. If you are just now looking at a deal of an old Pixel 7 Pro, or the new Pixel 9 Pro XL instead… yeah, get the latter, so long as money is not the issue. The 7 years of software support alone will make up for it. The Pixel 7 Pro won’t be getting Android updates past next year’s October.
👇Follow more 👇
👉 bdphone.com
👉 ultraactivation.com
👉 trainingreferral.com
👉 shaplafood.com
👉 bangladeshi.help
👉 www.forexdhaka.com
👉 uncommunication.com
👉 ultra-sim.com
👉 forexdhaka.com
👉 ultrafxfund.com