Google has never had good luck keeping unreleased smartphones under wraps. Just this week, Taiwanese regulators accidentally published images of all of Google’s 2024 Pixel phones, which will be announced next month. Google seems to have tired of being undercut and has taken the wraps off two of its devices early. The new teaser videos offer the first official glimpse of the Pixel 9 Pro and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
Both videos are heavily focused on Google’s Gemini AI robot, like almost everything else the company does right now. After the cheeky Dear John letter bit, the real show starts. Each video shows an unannounced phone for a few seconds, revealing a raft of design details that were difficult to ascertain from the previous leaks.
The Pixel 9 Pro will be the same size as the Pixel 9, but it will have the enhanced hardware previously reserved for the larger Pixel phone. This phone would compete directly with the non-Max iPhone Pro. The Pixel 9 Pro has flatter bezels than the Pixel 8 family, but the phone still has a very rounded footprint—there are no corners to be found.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is the follow-up to last year’s Pixel Fold. While the name got a lot bulkier, the device looks more streamlined than Google’s first foldable. The enormous bezels around the internal display are gone, and the hinge appears to have adopted a design more like Samsung and Motorola. This suggests that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold will actually open totally flat, unlike the 2023 foldable that annoyingly stopped a few degrees short.
It’s not entirely clear why Google chose to reveal only two of its four phones, but it may be because these phones represent the biggest departure for the Pixel family. The Pixel 9 Pro is Google’s first small flagship phone that doesn’t compromise on specs. There will still be a cheaper Pixel 9, but you won’t need to get the biggest, heaviest phone to get the best cameras. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold may be a second-generation device, but it doesn’t look anything like the original. Google is only getting started in foldables, and it’s looking to put that first attempt behind it.
Google has a new landing page for these phones on its store, but there’s no additional information there. It’s just a place to get details on the Aug. 13 event, which will include the new Pixels, Android 15 news, and of course, a heaping helping of Gemini AI.