Google’s surprise early announcement of the Pixel 9 series is only a few weeks away. But before the official release, a new leak has surfaced which gives us an insight into how the Pixel 9 will take on Samsung’s Galaxy AI.
Leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer has published marketing images from the upcoming launch, via 91 Mobiles, revealing some of the new AI features that will be built into the Pixel 9.
Read my colleague Paul Monckton’s story on that here. The big news, aside from the refreshed hardware, is that Pixel 9 buyers will get a year free of Gemini Advanced.
Specifically, Pixel 9 buyers will get one year free of the Google One AI Premium Plan. That includes 2TB of cloud storage, FitBit Premium (U.K. only), Nest Aware (U.K only), unlimited magic editor saves in Google Photos, and Gemini tools in Workspace apps.
I’m not entirely convinced that the Google One subscription is worth $19.99 per month without YouTube Premium. But as a bundle with the Pixel 9? That is a good deal—even just for the storage, which will mean more space for Google Photos. If you own any Nest products that is also a saving of up to £12 per month.
It’s clear that Google is planning to centre its Pixel 9 marketing around Gemini and AI abilities, as we have seen Samsung do with Galaxy AI and more recently Apple with Apple AI. To do that it looks like Google will repackage existing Gemini features to make them more user-friendly.
One example Google gives is a picture of four ingredients in a sparse fridge with the question “How can I make a burger with these ingredients?” The caption underneath states that users will be able to “ask Gemini for help with something on your screen or in real life.” The idea appears to be that Gemini will be able to analyze pictures (and video, perhaps) and answer contextual questions.
This isn’t an exclusive Pixel 9 feature because Gemini can currently analyze images and make suggestions, or answer questions, including coming up with recipe ideas. It gave me nine meal ideas for eggs, bananas, and ginger from a snap of my pantry this afternoon.
But I suspect Google has repacked certain Gemini skills to make them more accessible. Maybe after a picture is taken there’s an option in Google Photos to ‘suggest a recipe’ or just ‘analyze image.’
The other new feature uses Gemini to analyze screenshots and save relevant information, which is called Pixel Screenshot. There isn’t any more detail on it, but the concept shows Google is working towards integrating Gemini deeper into Android and overall smartphone experience.
As it stands, Gemini is just a standalone app with some influence over Gmail and Docs. The leaked images don’t give much detail away, but if it’s possible for Gemini to save a Google Calendar entry from a screenshot—then that is a powerful feature and a step forward in mobile AI tools. Google has been working on integrating Gemini and Google Assistant, so that work may have bore some fruit that is now ready to harvest in the Pixel 9.
The biggest issue with these features is that smartphone users forget they exist. People use their smartphones in a simple and predictable way, so these tools have to be planted in those predictable places. Samsung’s new Fold 6 does a good job of this by offering options to “translate” or “summarize in text” during a phone call. The AI features are front and center during a mundane task so they become hard to ignore.
If Google has found a way to incorporate more of Gemini’s power into everyday features, then the Pixel 9 will have a powerful answer to Samsung’s Galaxy AI on the Galaxy S24, Fold 6 and Flip 6.