Google / Aurich Lawson
Google announced its fall lineup of Pixel phones today: three standard phones and a second tablet-esque folding model. There are new chips, new cameras, Satellite SOS, and some notable promises, like the 9 phones being “twice as durable” as their Pixel 8 equivalents and getting seven years of updates. But as you might expect this year, they’re primarily showcases for all the things Google’s Gemini AI promises to do for you.
Here’s what’s new, what’s coming, and when you can ask your phone to make a shopping list for taco night for a family of six.
Gemini is in the power button, the screenshots, and a free premium subscription
It’s not just you—Google really is “infusing AI into everything we do,” as noted on its Keyword blog today. Here’s a short list of what Google says Android phone owners can do with Gemini:
- Speak to Gemini “naturally the way you would with another person”
- Bring up an overlay (holding power button) over other apps to ask about things on-screen
- Generate images from that overlay and drop them into apps, like Gmail or Messages
- Use “Gemini Live,” a “mobile conversational experience” in which you could, for example, “brainstorm potential jobs well-suited for your skillset or degree”
Gemini Live is launching today for Gemini Advanced subscribers on Android, with iOS coming soon. New extensions to Gemini, and contextual overlay for non-Pixel devices, should arrive “in the coming weeks.”
You might think you won’t use Google’s Gemini as much as Google thinks you will, but Google aims to change your mind with one free year of the Google One AI Premium Plan (i.e., “Gemini Advanced”), which is bundled into a Pixel 9 Pro or Pro XL purchase. That also grants you access to what Google is doing with Gemini in Gmail, Docs, and maybe search, along with a 2TB storage plan.
Holding the power button on an AI-enabled Pixel 9 Pro will bring up a dashboard that allows for writing, asking, or searching through interconnected Google apps for information. Like Google Lens, you can ask Gemini about what’s on your screen or ask it about something in a photo you snap. It’s a little unclear which features may eventually get backported to the Pixel 9 or other Android phones generally. That’s probably the idea: if you’re excited about this stuff, Google strongly suggests paying $200 more.
