Why is the Pixel 9 more expensive?

Thanks to a treasure trove’s worth of leaks, we know pretty much everything there is to know about the Pixel 9 series, including that it will see some price hikes, making the main three phones more expensive. Why is that?

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One of the core pillars of Google’s first Tensor-powered Pixels was value. By delivering much of the same hardware features at a lesser cost, the deficiencies of Google’s chip could be overlooked relatively easily. Over time, though, prices inevitably went up, peaking with last year’s Pixel 8 at $699 and Pixel 8 Pro at $999.

This year, those prices are expected to go up by around $100 across the board, with a $1,000 Pixel 9 Pro offering a smaller but equally capable alternative to the (likely) $1,100 Pixel 9 Pro XL.

Despite the many Pixel leaks this week, though, we still don’t have confirmation of US pricing for the entire lineup – just the Pixel Watch 3 and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

But why are they going up? In terms of hardware design, the Pixel 9 series is certainly an upgrade in some ways, but new devices generally don’t bring an upcharge for design alone unless there are material changes, and none of that is expected. The displays are getting better across the board, but that’s also not something that usually comes with a price bump. Starting storage totals are supposedly unchanged, and Google is still set for 7 years of updates, which was arguably the biggest reason last year’s price bump didn’t sting all that much.

There are some more meaningful upgrades at play. The cameras on the Pro series are better, with a much higher-resolution selfie camera and a better sensor for the ultrawide on the back too. The existence of the smaller Pixel 9 Pro on its own is also a welcome addition to the lineup for many who were starved for a capable but smaller device for years. Tensor G4 in itself isn’t a big upgrade, but rumors of free-for-a-while satellite connectivity and the better modem should be meaningful additions as well.

But I do think there’s one very tangible upgrade that a lot of people are overlooking, and that’s memory.

According to leaks, Google is equipping the entire Pixel 9 series with more RAM this year. The base Pixel 9 will allegedly ship with 12GB of RAM, while the Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL (and Fold) will get 16GB of RAM by default. 16GB of RAM is a total that was unheard of just a few years ago, and is still exceedingly uncommon for most smartphones, especially in base configurations. For comparison, Samsung’s $1,300 Galaxy S24 Ultra doesn’t have a 16GB variant, and certainly doesn’t offer that in its base model. Looking at the Galaxy S24 series as a means of comparison, 12GB and 16GB really does eclipse Google’s primary competition, as the base Galaxy S24 only have 8GB of RAM.

The reason for this is most likely for the sake of AI, as on-device AI tends to rely heavily on plenty of memory. But, even if AI isn’t something you’ll use frequently, that additional memory should provide a boost to overall performance in day-to-day tasks, and that excess memory will be very useful in the years to come as AI constantly changes the focus of our phones. It should also prove helpful through the near-decade of software support these phones are getting.

I do think Google should have gone ahead and also upped the base storage to 256GB alongside that change, but effectively upping the RAM by 25% or more is quite an impactful change, and one that I think does ease the sting of higher pricing, at least in my book. It does sound like pre-orders will come with boosted storage, though.

What do you think?

Now, the other question that begs to be asked here is that if the Pixel 9 Pro Fold isn’t getting a price increase despite it’s much longer list of additional upgrades, why are the other models? And I think the reasoning here is obvious. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold, like the Pixel Fold before it, is expensive, and at such a high price, it’s really hard to justify an increase. Google’s Pixel Fold should have been cheaper, but based on everything we’ve heard about the new one, the sequel actually seems somewhat worthy of its price – maybe, we’ll see.