We came across a post online recently that shared an opinion on the Pixel 9 series, saying that it was “too d*mn expensive” and not worth the upgrade. They also said anyone on the fence for a new phone should settle for the Pixel 8 series and save themselves the coin. While that’s a handsome opinion, we don’t share the sentiment. There are some serious advantages to the Pixel 9 series and we’re writing this to ensure everyone is on the same page here.
The way we see it, there are at least three reasons to buy the Pixel 9 series over the Pixel 8, but if pressed we could easily give you more. And to make it a bit more interesting, versus saying, “Oh, the hardware is better,” we want to give insight into the smaller changes that make for a better experience living with the Pixel 9 series over the Pixel 8.
TL;DR version: You have the upgraded modem, hardware improvements that should not be overlooked such as the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, plus improved battery life. We simply cannot stand for the Pixel 9 series to be labeled as incremental upgrades over the Pixel 8 series. That’s not what these phones are.
1. Upgraded Modem: Kellen did a fantastic job at discussing his experience with the latest Samsung modem paired with the Tensor G4 chip in the Pixel 9 series. If you haven’t read his review of the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL, you can view it here. For the modem, the important takeaway was that both the Pixel 7 and Pixel 8 series had modem issues. We were either toggling airplane mode on/off after dropping signal or experiencing overheating. With the Pixel 9, we haven’t had those problems, so yeah, that alone should be worth the upgrade in the eyes of consumers.
2. Ultrasonic, baby: I am team Ultrasonic Fingerprint Overlord and I don’t apologize for it. Optical sensors are trash and I am sick of being blinded by them. Finally, Google splurged and provided upgraded fingerprint sensors on all models of the Pixel 9 (except the Pixel 9 Pro Fold). I won’t blow smoke and tell you that the ultrasonic sensor is worthy of the upgrade alone, but when combined with the other upgrades, oh hell yes it is and I’ll gladly die on that hill.
3. Battery life: I wouldn’t label Pixel 8 series battery life bad by any means, but the Pixel 9 series is simply better. Both Kellen and I have had very positive battery results with the Pixel 9 lineup. From my own experience with Pixel 9 and the smaller Pixel 9 Pro, which both have the same 4,700mAh battery, I’m going to bed with more juice than I did on the Pixel 8 Pro which had a larger battery at 5,050mAh. We’re no engineers, so we just assume better power efficiency has been achieved with the Tensor G4 chipset, but regardless, our results speak for themselves. Again, you should check out my full Pixel 9 review and Kellen’s Pro review.
End of the day, living with the Pixel 9 Pro has been really awesome. After using the Pixel 8 Pro and Galaxy S24 Ultra, I was using the iPhone 15 Pro and was actually enjoying myself considerably, even with iOS and its terrible way of handling notifications. I’m now back on Android and loving it with the Pixel 9 series. To me, that speaks volumes and things should only get more fun with the upgrade to Android 15 literally right around the corner.
If you have the means to do so, get the Pixel 9 series and let the Pixel 8 fade into history. It was fine at the time, but we’ve gotten so much better in just one year. The Pixel 9 series is very much worth the upgrade.