The Pixel 9 Pro could be the reasonably sized Android flagship I’ve been waiting for

We’ve been following developments around the Pixel 9 series, expected to debut this October, for months now. Personally, I’ve kept up to speed on the broad strokes — Tensor G4, a new design, and Google potentially branding its next foldable, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. One detail in particular has piqued my interest, though: we’re getting a smaller, non-folding Pro model this year.

As a Pixel 5 apologist, the idea of a smaller flagship Pixel phone speaks to me. And last week, we saw the first photos of this smaller Pixel 9 Pro in the flesh — next to a larger Max-model iPhone. The smaller 9 Pro is hardly the six-inch-screen masterpiece that was the Pixel 5, but seeing it next to a device roughly the size of the Pixel 8 Pro really got me interested.

A small Pixel 9 Pro might be my ideal phone

Google’s best, without the bulk?

The leaked image above is, we believe, a Pixel 9 Pro next to an iPhone 14 Pro Max. We first heard back in January that there’d be a smaller Pixel 9 Pro, measuring the same 152.8 x 71.9 x 8.5mm as the base-model Pixel 9, but seeing it in photos next to a well-known larger device is reassuring. At these dimensions, the Pixel 9 Pro is a bit larger than the Pixel 8 I’m using now (and substantially larger than the Pixel 5 I’ll never get over), but the phone is more petite than I’ve come to expect Pro Android phones to be.

While the tack of releasing top-end phones in multiple sizes will be familiar to anybody who keeps up with Apple (Pro iPhones have come in two sizes since the 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max in 2019), it breaks with recent precedent in the Android space. The Pixel 8, 7, and 6 series all comprise a smaller base version and a larger Pro model that has extra features. And while this year’s Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24+ both offer flagship-quality hardware with identical camera load-outs, the smaller model packs less RAM and storage than the larger one — and neither ticks all the same boxes as the titanic S24 Ultra.

With the exception of one misguided carrier promo, I’ve avoided buying any new phone for the past several years, instead parking my SIM in whichever loaner device I have access to that most closely matches my needs (right now, a Pixel 8). I hate missing out on high-end functionality, but I don’t consume much content on my phone. That makes having to buy a big device to get the best features — features like telephoto cameras, top-end multitasking performance, and extra-annoyingly, in Google’s case, off-device software tricks like Video Boost — a pretty unappealing proposition.

But if the Pixel 9 Pro really does show up this fall with a 6.2-inch display, 12 gigs of RAM, and the same 5x telephoto camera as the larger Pixel 9 Pro XL, I think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and buy one. It’s not the truly small flagship many of us are clamoring for, but it seems like it’ll be too close to pass up.

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Among other things

All that said, Google could still squander my cautious optimism for the Pixel 9 Pro in a few ways. For one, the Tensor G4 is shaping up to be a fairly mild refresh of the existing Tensor G3 design rather than the brand-new, fully custom, 3nm chipset we expected it to be last year. That in itself isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, but given the Tensor G3-powered Pixel 8 already feels just a touch more sluggish than its Qualcomm-driven competition, it doesn’t inspire confidence, either.

There’s also the matter of price. We’re yet to see leaked pricing information for the Pixel 9 series, but with three Pixel 9 phones (four, if you count the Fold) and a Pixel 8a on the way, pricing for Google’s next-gen phones could get sticky. If the Pixel 8a costs $550 (which we expect it might), it’s not hard to imagine the Pixel 9 Pro going for $900 or $1,000 at retail. That would be consistent with Apple — the 6.1″ iPhone 15 Pro costs $1,000 — but it’d be a bit difficult to lay that kind of money down knowing a bigger internal upgrade is probably around the corner for the Tensor G5.

Then again, if you’re planning too far ahead, there’s always a reason not to upgrade; the next generation will always be better, at least in theory. If the Pixel 9 Pro can even come close to delivering on the promise of a smallish, full-featured Android flagship, a lot of small-phone evangelists are going to be very happy — myself included.

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