It seems that the upcoming Google Pixel 9 series of smartphones will cease to be secret way ahead of their official launch later this year. Merely a day after leak-based renders of the Pixel 9 Pro made their way online, the vanilla Pixel 9 has also been given the same unceremonious treatment.
Most recently, 91Mobiles has shared what it claims are design renders of the Google Pixel 9, which looks almost identical to its Pro variant, save for the smaller dimensions. The sides are flat and seem to unabashedly mimic the formula that Apple introduced with the iPhone 12 series and has continued with the iPhone 15.
But it’s the rear face that gets the most notable makeover. Instead of a camera hump that extends from one vertical edge to the other on the Google Pixel 8 series, and the Pixel 7 duo before it, the Pixel 9 pair seems to favor a pill-shaped design. And that cyclops eye-inspired floating camera bump is not merely an aesthetic touch this time around.
The alleged renders imagine a triple camera setup for the Pixel 9, a first for a non-Pro Google smartphone. Assuming it’s the real deal, we are looking at a regular high-resolution camera paired with an ultrawide angle snapper and a dedicated zoom lens.
Taking a closer look at the image shows a rectangular cutout for the third lens, a dead giveaway that it’s a periscope-style zoom camera, which usually makes an appearance on high-end phones like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Another notable upgrade seems to be the temperature sensor, which has been exclusive to the Pixel 8 Pro so far.
At this point in time, we don’t know much about the phone’s innards, but that info won’t take long for the leaksters to dig up. The display will reportedly come in at 6.1 inches, which is business as usual for the “smaller” Pixel flagship.
Leaks suggest the fourth-generation Tensor processor powering the Pixel 9 will be based on the 3nm process, and that the fabrication responsibilities will once again fall to Samsung’s semiconductor labs ,with some custom requests from Google’s team in tow.
For now, all we have are these leaked renders and a 360-degree video depicting the Pixel 9 in a familiar blue shade that seems to draw some inspiration from the Pixel 8 Pro. But given Google’s history, more colors are certainly on the table.
I quite love the uniformly slim screen bezels on the front, but then, it would also be nigh impossible to distinguish it from the Galaxy S24’s nearly identical screen aesthetics. Of course, it’s an early leak, which means the final design of the Pixel 9 might just end up looking a bit — or dramatically — different.
It’s going to be a long wait before the Google Pixel 9 series appears on retail shelves. The Pixel 8 series was given an official announcement ceremony in October 2023, which means we are still a healthy three fiscal quarters away from the Pixel 9’s market arrival.
