Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review: The big Pro has some big cons

Don’t let the new suffix fool you, the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is a very familiar phone. Of the three Pro-branded smartphones that Google is offering up this year, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is the most comparable successor to the Google Pixel 8 Pro. With the Google Pixel 9 Pro being a new compact alternative and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold being the search giant’s latest swing at a book-style folding phone.

That means that, despite the new name, the Pixel 9 Pro XL feels a little like business as usual – made all the more clear by the fact that Google has launched it and the Pixel 9 together first, with the other two to follow in a couple of weeks. There are some new features to talk about, on top of the expected generational tweaks, but does this all add up to enough improvements to justify the price increase, or should you just wait for the Pixel 9 Pro?

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review: What you need to know

There are three things that separate the Pixel 9 Pro XL from the Pixel 9 Pro: size, display and battery. Where the latter is a compact handset akin to the standard Google Pixel 9, the 9 Pro XL is very much a big beast of a phone. Going with that is a larger 6.8in OLED display with a resolution of 2,992 x 1,334 and a dynamic 1-120Hz refresh rate.

The battery is a heftier 5,060mAh cell and charging speeds are a little higher, at 37W wired and 23W wireless, but there’s still no charger bundled in the box. Otherwise, the internal components are identical across both the Pixel 9 Pro and the 9 Pro XL.

The new Google Tensor G4 chipset runs the show, with even more of a focus on AI power this year. Google states that it’s able to manage up to 45 tokens per second (essentially the speed at which the AI model can compute data), making it the fastest on-smartphone generative AI yet. Backing up the new processor is 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of non-expandable storage space.

The rear camera array is mostly the same as the Pixel 8 Pro, once again offering a 50MP (f/1.7) main lens, 48MP (f/2.8) 5x telephoto camera and a 48MP ultrawide shooter, but the latter now has a wider f/1.7 aperture. The front-facing camera gets an upgrade too, jumping from a 10.5MP sensor to a 42MP (f/2.2) snapper.

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Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review: Price and competition

That doesn’t all come free, however, as the Pixel 9 Pro XL retails for significantly more than the Pixel 8 Pro: it starts at £1,099 for the 128GB model, with the 256GB costing £1,199, the 512GB at £1,399 and the 1TB version going for a whopping £1,599.

The only competition in this lofty price range is the best of the best. Our favourite overall is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, which is currently £1,149 for the 256GB model. For that, it delivers class-leading performance, exceptional zoom cameras and the best battery life we’ve ever tested.

The 256GB iPhone 15 Pro Max is a little cheaper at £1,099, bringing with it blisteringly fast performance and a versatile camera system that is particularly adept at video. And then we have a potential dark horse in the OnePlus 12, which massively undercuts these other options at just £799. For that, you’re still getting flagship-level performance and battery life, with only a couple of minor sacrifices bringing it down to three figures.

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Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review: Design and key features

In contrast to its name, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is a little slimmer than the Pixel 8 Pro, at 8.5mm thick, compared to 8.8mm. That’s with the same 163 x 77mm dimensions as last year but it’s also packed on a few, now weighing a fairly hefty 221g – up from the Pixel 8 Pro’s 213g.

The design is mostly the same as before, with comfortably rounded corners and polished metal edges that draw fingerprints in like moths to a flame. One difference you’ll see is that the iconic camera bar has been replaced with an extended ovaline camera housing that feels at least twice as thick as before. For me, that makes the phone look bulkier than before and a little more generic, and ultimately feels like a step backwards design-wise.

Protection is just as good as last year, with a robust IP68 dust and water resistance rating  and a layer of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on both the front and rear. There are a couple of new colour choices this time around, with Hazel and Rose Quartz joining the standard Obsidian and Porcelain styles.

Aside from the new ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, which proved lightning fast and accurate during testing, the new features are all AI-based. Pixel Studio works well enough but feels a little behind the curve – generative AI has been around for a while now, and Samsung has moved on to the equally creatively bankrupt but arguably more technically impressive Sketch to Image feature, which turns your doodles into “art” of different styles.

Equally, I don’t find the Weather summary particularly useful, as it just lists out information that’s already available on the page. It may save a little time, but feels like it’s meeting the thinnest of needs. The screenshots app is my favourite of the new additions; I went on a screenshotting spree during testing and found the app effective at pulling them back up based on a single keyword. It even drew out the price of these boots when asked, which again, feels like it saves barely any time, but is useful if you want it.

Google has once again pledged seven years’ of OS updates, security patches and “Pixel feature drops”. This is technically a short-change because the Pixel 9 series are all launching with Android 14, same as the 8 series, so presumably are topping out at the same Android version (21). Realistically, I don’t see anyone using the phone long enough for it to matter that you won’t get that extra jump to Android 22.

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review: Display

Even by flagship standards, the 6.8in OLED display is exceptional. Colour accuracy on the Natural profile is once again class-leading, hitting an average Delta E colour variance score of just 0.62 (anything under 1 is about as perfect as it gets) with an sRGB gamut coverage of 97.1% and a volume of 97.9%. In short, it would be a hard task to find a better-looking phone display than this.

What particularly stood out to me, however, was just how bright this thing can get. With adaptive brightness disabled, the “Super Actua” display reached an incredible 1,177cd/m2, while turning auto-brightness on and shining a torch on the light sensor pushed it to 1,513cd/m2. The best came when displaying HDR content, with the Pixel 9 Pro XL topping out at a ludicrously good 1,901cd/m2 – a higher peak than any other flagship going right now.

Would you realistically notice the difference between this and the (still very good) results of the Pixel 8 Pro or the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra? Probably not, but it’s impressive nonetheless.

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Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review: Performance and battery life

Google has traditionally priced its top-end flagships a little behind the competition, which made the Tensor chipset’s lower performance scores easier to stomach, but this price increase puts the Pixel 9 Pro XL in direct contention with the fastest phones on the market. While I found it to be nice and nippy in general use, the Geekbench 6 benchmark results showed just how behind the competition Google still is.

The Pixel 9 Pro XL does deliver a solid improvement over the Pixel 8 Pro but it’s still leagues behind the results of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and the OnePlus 12. Considering that the latter is £200 cheaper, the fact that it exceeded the Pixel by 21% in the multi-core portion isn’t a great look for Google.

The Pixel 9 Pro XL got fairly warm while running the GFXBench tests, which didn’t give me much confidence, but when I moved on to testing Genshin: Impact, it cooled down for the most part.

I found the game to run smoothly enough, with no lags or stuttering, but as you can see in the chart below, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is as far behind the competition in the GPU stakes as it is in the CPU. It’s also barely any better than the Pixel 8 Pro, which is disappointing.

A much more positive result was the battery life, with the Pixel 9 Pro XL showing real improvement over the Pixel 8 Pro. Lasting for 29hrs 33mins in our looping video test, the 9 Pro XL beats its predecessor by a massive 10 hours, surpassing the iPhone 15 Pro Max and drawing close to the OnePlus 12.

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review: Cameras

Cameras are always a high-point of Pixel phones and these are no different. The main lens balanced exposure excellently, producing broad dynamic range with bright highlights and deep, moody shadows. Colours are once again fantastic, too, with a punchy level of vibrancy that doesn’t overstep into excessive saturation.

There are a couple of useful new editing features this year as well. Zoom Enhance is available from launch, effectively sharpening up blurry zoom shots with AI, and Add Me allows photo takers to be composited into group shots after the fact.

The former is a decent idea but hit and miss in practice, leaving some images looking a little oversharpened for my tastes. Add Me, on the other hand, was very effective in testing, and even opened the door for some silly fun: here’s me with the best guy I know:

Night photography is once again fantastic at brightening the scene and plucking out details. I found that big blocks of darkness like sky and water sometimes suffered from excess noise but for the most part, this is an excellent night shooter.

Equally, I have nothing but good things to say about the telephoto camera. The 5x optical shots are crisp and detailed and the hybrid zoom does a decent job at capturing 10x shots – the phone goes up to 30x with reasonable detail but you’ll want to top out around 10x to get the best results.

The new aperture works well for the ultrawide camera, with the level of detail feeling like a step up from last year, especially in those tricky corner areas. The image processing also does a great job at matching the tone and exposure levels of the main lens.

Video can now shoot 8K at 30fps, alongside 4K up to 60fps. There’s no stabilisation on the 8K mode, so you do see a little sway in the footage, but it otherwise looks nice and sharp – though for the most part, you’re better off just sticking with the steadier 4K setting.

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review: Verdict

I won’t know for sure until I test and review the Google Pixel 9 Pro but my first instinct is that the smaller handset is going to be the better value of the pair. The battery may be bigger on the XL but the screen is too, so it’s not a given that stamina achieved here won’t be matched by the smaller handset. Aside from the compact build and smaller screen, the regular Pixel 9 Pro offers everything else covered here, and does so for £100 less.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still an outstanding smartphone, with the brightest screen I’ve ever tested, phenomenal cameras and far better battery life than last year. If it wasn’t for the big price increase, this would be a five-star review but, as it stands, stepping right up to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra was a mistake. The latter has better battery life, farther-reaching zoom photography and is significantly faster, too.

The secret weapon of the Pixel phones has long been undercutting the competition on price. The 9 Pro XL may be an impressive phone in its own right but it would have been better served not trying to fix what wasn’t broken.