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With its increasingly varied phone lineup, Google has an option for everyone. The best Google Pixel phone for you will depend on whether you want a larger or smaller phone, a regular or foldable phone, or a dedicated zoom lens.
Regardless of price, you can count on all current Pixel phones to exhibit superb camera quality and dependable performance. Google still offers its older Pixel 8 generation and the budget Pixel 7a, but we’re not including them here. Google is still charging full price for those older models, and it makes no sense to buy them when the new Pixel 9 series and this year’s Pixel 8a offer better value across the board.
Our top pick for the best Google Pixel phone, the standard Pixel 9, is an excellent choice for Android fans or iPhone users looking on the other side of the fence and presents the best value for most people within the company’s current lineup. Google’s best budget option, the Pixel 8a, is essentially a premium phone at a more affordable price, with its excellent cameras and high-end display.
Our top picks for the best Google Pixel phone
Best overall: Pixel 9 – See at Amazon
Best budget: Pixel 8a – See at Amazon
Best camera: Pixel 9 Pro – See at Amazon
Best battery life: Pixel 9 Pro XL – See at Amazon
Best foldable phone: Pixel 9 Pro Fold – See at Amazon
Best overall
Relative to its recent predecessors, Google’s Pixel 9 has a refined design, an upgraded display and camera system, and a new processor for Google’s latest AI suite. However, it lacks the zoom lens that other base Android flagships offer.
It would be too easy to say the Pixel 9 Pro phones are Google’s best overall offering. After all, the Pro models have brighter displays, more RAM for extra performance, and three cameras, while the base Pixel 9 has two. However, none of the Pixel 9 Pro models offer as much value as the base Pixel 9, which is crucial.
The base Pixel 9 delivers essentially the same experience as the Pixel 9 Pro for $200 less, despite the high-end models’ brighter displays and additional RAM for advanced AI features. If you boil it down to the essentials, you’d spend an extra $200 for a dedicated 5x zoom camera. If taking zoomed photos matters to you, then the upgrade is worth it, and it’s why you’ll see the Pixel 9 Pro under the “best camera” section in this guide.
Indeed, the base Pixel 9 has the same 50MP main and 48MP ultrawide cameras as the Pro models, so they take identically superb photos. The base Pixel 9 relies on digital zooming for taking zoomed photos, as it lacks a zoom camera, but the base Pixel 9’s digital zooming is surprisingly effective. Sure, photos aren’t as sharp as the Pro models as you zoom further and further, but I struggle to say the benefits are worth an extra $200.
Additionally, the base Pixel 9’s 10.5MP front camera may seem lackluster on paper, but I found no real difference compared to the Pixel 9 Pro’s 42MP front camera.
The base Pixel 9 runs on the same Google Tensor G4 processor as the Pixel 9 Pro models, so both open and run apps at the same speed and fluidity. All phones in the Pixel 9 series run the default Gemini AI assistant. While it’s true the Pixel 9 Pro models have more RAM, partly to accommodate Google’s Gemini Advanced AI, I didn’t see any tangible difference in day-to-day use, apart from when testing the advanced AI model.
The Pixel 9 also sports Google’s high-end Actua Display, which can reach up to 2700 nits brightness. It’s plenty bright in sunny conditions, even compared to the 3000-nit Actua display on the Pro models.
Read our full Google Pixel 9 review, and see our guide to the best Google Pixel 9 cases to protect the phone.
Best budget
The Pixel 8a is nominally a budget version of the Pixel 8, but you’d have a hard time telling them apart. The Pixel 8a dominates in its price range and comes easily recommended thanks to its stellar value relative to its performance, camera quality, and high-end display.
The Pixel 8a, with its $499 MSRP, falls more in the mid-range category than the budget class, but it’s the least expensive Pixel phone you can buy, so it’s the best budget Pixel phone by default.
Still, even if you weren’t planning on spending nearly $500, we strongly feel the Pixel 8a is well worth it. It’s our top pick for the best cheap phone and best budget Android phone, thanks to its performance, cameras, design, and overall value. Google’s seven-year support window for Android upgrades and security updates also gives the phone a seven-year lifespan before you may need to buy a new phone, which could translate to spending less in the long term.
The Pixel 8a runs on the same Google Tensor G3 processor as the previous Pixel 8 generation, so it has the same high-end performance. It also comes with many of Google’s popular AI features, like Circle To Search, Best Take, Audio Magic Eraser, Magic Editor, Photo Unblur, Live Translate, Call Screen, Hold For Me, and several others.
Combine the Tensor G3 processor with the Pixel 8a’s bright OLED 120Hz display and cameras that compete with phones twice as expensive, and the experience is nothing short of premium.
Apart from the Pixel 8a’s smaller 6.1-inch screen, the most noticeable difference between the Pixel 8a and Pixel 9 is the now-outdated design, with the former’s rounder edges and plastic rather than glass back. It’s the only real tell-tale characteristic that suggests you’re using a more affordable phone.
Otherwise, most other compromises aren’t so noticeable. Omitted features are rather trivial and niche, like Google’s Battery Share feature that lets you wirelessly charge devices from the back of the phone, among other minor differences.
Read our full Google Pixel 8a review, and see our guide to the best Google Pixel 8a cases to protect the phone.
Best camera
The Pixel 9 Pro is basically the base Pixel 9 with an additional 5x zoom camera. It’s an excellent phone that comes with some additional minor upgrades, like a slightly brighter display and extra RAM for advanced AI features.
The Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro share the same main and ultrawide cameras and take identically excellent photos. Yet, the Pixel 9 Pro’s dedicated 5x zoom lens makes it the most versatile Pixel model for taking photos or videos, simply because it lets you take sharper and better photos of objects and subjects further away.
The larger, more expensive Pixel 9 Pro XL has the exact same camera system as the standard Pixel 9 Pro, so you won’t get better quality on the camera front by spending an extra $100 for the former.
With its 5x 48-megapixel zoom lens, the Pixel 9 Pro can take impressively sharp and detailed photos, even at higher magnifications like 10x. Even photos taken at 30x are serviceable. If you often use your current phone’s zoom lens or take zoomed pictures or video on a phone without a zoom lens, you’ll deeply appreciate the Pixel 9 Pro’s additional zoom lens.
The Pixel 9 Pro models also support Google’s latest Video Boost feature, which slightly boosts color richness and makes videos more vibrant. Amazingly, videos don’t look too “boosted” to the point where they look unnatural or overly processed.
See our guide to the best Google Pixel 9 Pro cases to protect the phone.
Best battery life
The Pixel 9 Pro XL offers a large 6.8-inch display and one of the best battery test results we’ve seen in a phone. It also has a first-rate three-lens camera system and Google’s super-bright Actua display.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL, with its 6.8-inch display, obtained the best score I’ve ever seen on a Pixel phone, with 70% remaining after our intensive battery test, and I’ve reviewed them all. In fact, it almost matches the best battery test result I’ve seen overall, which was 73% on the Apple iPhone 15 Plus.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL’s result is stunning and a substantial improvement over the previous Pixel 8 Pro’s score of 62%. It’s also significantly better than the base Pixel 9’s 60% result.
It heavily depends on usage, but the Pixel 9 Pro XL has the highest potential to last two days between charges out of all the Pixel phones, even compared with the 6.8-inch Galaxy S24 Ultra, which scored 66% in our test.
If you tend to charge your phone every night, the Pixel 9 Pro XL offers the most confidence among the Android phones we’ve tested that it’ll easily last through your typical day, even with heavy use.
See our guide to the best Google Pixel 9 Pro XL cases to protect the phone.
Best foldable
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s 6.3-inch exterior display is the same shape and size as the Pixel 9 Pro, making it familiar and comfortable to use as a simple phone. Unfolding it reveals an 8-inch tablet, which is among the biggest you can find in a foldable phone.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold wins this category by default, as it’s the only foldable Google currently offers. Still, it’s my favorite foldable phone I’ve tested out of those from Samsung and OnePlus for its thin design, excellent cameras, and built-in support for Google’s latest Gemini AI assistant. It’s also a vast improvement over Google’s first shot at the foldable phone market, 2023’s Pixel Fold.
What sets the Pixel 9 Pro Fold apart, especially against Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6, is its exterior display; it’s identical to the 6.3-inch display on the Pixel 9 Pro in shape and size, thus offering a familiar, traditional phone experience when using the Pixel 9 Pro Fold in the folded position. By contrast, the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s exterior display is oddly narrow and provides a somewhat unfamiliar and uncomfortable experience when using the phone in the folded position.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold also has an 8-inch interior tablet display, which is noticeably larger than the tablet displays of its competitors and makes it an ideal hybrid device to watch videos or use apps more comfortably.
See our guide to the best Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold cases to protect the phone.
Best Google Pixel phones compared
FAQs
Which is the newest Google Pixel phone?
Google recently released its latest phones, the Pixel 9 series, on staggered dates. The Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL were released on August 22, 2024, while the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro Fold were released on September 4, 2024.
The Pixel 8a, released on May 14, 2024, was the last phone launched before the Pixel 9 series.
How long are Google Pixel phones supported?
Until recently, Google surprisingly had some of the shortest support windows for its entries among the best Android phones, even though Google itself develops Android and produces Pixel phones. However, with the Pixel 8 series, Google finally started offering a longer support window that competes with, and surpasses, most Android phones, with seven years of Android upgrades and security updates.
Previous Pixel models have shorter support windows for Android upgrades and security updates, and most also receive security updates longer than they get Android upgrades. Below is when Google says it will discontinue support for the Pixel phones we’ve included in this guide.
- Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold: August 2031 for Android and security updates.
- Pixel 8a: May 2031 for Android and security updates.
Antonio Villas-Boas
Senior Tech Reporter
Antonio is a senior tech reporter for Insider’s Reviews team, where he helps lead coverage, reviews, and guides of smartphones, tablets, accessories, wearables, smart home products, as well as audio devices from Apple, Google, Samsung, OnePlus, and other major tech companies. Before joining Business Insider, Antonio was a consumer-electronics analyst at PCMag. He graduated from Colgate University in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in history. You can contact Antonio with tips and cool tech via email at: avillasboas@businessinsider.com Learn more about how our team of experts tests and reviews products at Insider here. Learn more about how we test tech and electronics.
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