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Made by Google event – live: Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel Watch 3 announced
The tech giant unveiled four new phones, the Pixel Watch 3, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 and new Gemini AI features
Google’s annual Made by Google presentation has come to a close. As anticipated, this year’s show was all about bringing Gemini AI to every corner of the Google product portfolio.
That includes the freshly unveiled Pixel 9 range, which this year includes a folding phone in the form of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. There’s also the new Pixel Watch 3 with much-improved workout tracking features, and the Pixel Buds Pro 2 (£219, Amazon.co.uk), which get a significant upgrade to active noise-cancellation, plus the ability to have ongoing chats with the Gemini assistant in your ear.
We also saw live on-stage demos of many of Gemini’s new features, like Pixel Screenshots, which lets the assistant effectively memorise and recall important information for you just by saving a screenshot. Magic Editor on Pixel 9 also gets an overhaul with more ways to use generative AI to improve your shots, reframe your subjects, add yourself into group shots and add goofy little details.
Our Made by Google liveblog rounds up some of the biggest updates and news from the event.
Here come the Pixels
Brian is back on stage to announce the new Pixel phones. There are four in total this year.
- Pixel 9
- Pixel 9 Pro
- Pixel 9 Pro XL
- Pixel 9 Pro Fold
And what’s this? Google’s given us a sneak preview of the new phones in advance, and we’ve written all about them right here.
Google Pixel 9 series revealed: Here’s where to pre-order now
This year’s Pixel line-up includes a folding phone and a more pocket-friendly 6.3in variant of the Pro
Pixel and Gemini
We hope you like hearing about Gemini AI, because these new Pixel phones are absolutely humming with Gemini features.
The new Tensor G4 chips have been designed to efficiently run Gemini Nano, the on-device version of Google’s AI assistant, and feature a dedicated carve-out in the chip’s RAM just to host the assistant’s virtual brains.
Pixel Studio
We’re getting a live product demo of the new Pixel Studio app, which lets you change the look and style of your photos using Gemini AI prompts. We’re zhuzhing up a photo of a bonfire, switching it to a retro videogame look, and dropping in stickers of friends’ faces to create a party invite.
Pixel cameras
This year’s Pixel phones are getting a fully redesigned camera pipeline, built around - you guessed it - artificial intelligence. Google says it’s the world’s first AI camera, whatever that means? We’re not too sure.
The results speak for themselves though. Nightsight photography now works in panorama mode, and the pictures look impressive. Google even took a swipe at the iPhone 15 Pro Max in a cheeky comparison shot between the two phones.
Add me
Here’s a really fun little feature in the Pixel 9 phones.
‘Add me’ seamlessly composites you back into those group photos where you’ve been the one stuck taking the shot. Take a shot of your friends as usual, swap places, and a ghostly afterimage will help guide you into the right spot. The just snap a second picture and the shots will be combined.
Magic Editor improvements
There are a bunch of new features coming to the Magic Editor tool, the Pixel-exclusive photo editing app that uses generative AI to fix up your shots.
Auto-frame will automatically edit your photo to give it a more pleasing composition. Google has trained its AI to understand ideal compositions, and the Magic Editor tool can use generative-fill to expand the borders of your shot and include stuff that wasn’t visible in the original framing.
Google announces the Pixel Watch 3
The updated Android wearable comes in two sizes for the first time, features a bigger battery, brighter screen and more accurate heart tracking during runs.
Pixel Watch 3: Where to pre-order Google’s new fitness wearable
The new Android wearable integrates seamlessly with Pixel phones and comes in two sizes for the first time
The Pixel Watch 3 starts at £349
The Pixel Watch 3 starts at £349 for the wifi model and is available to pre-order from today.
The new watch is launching alongside a refreshed Fitbit app designed around improving your runs, with live coaching, workout planning and guidance.
Pixel Watch safety features
We’re looking at safety features of the Pixel Watch 3 now, specifically “loss of pulse” detection, which isn’t something we’ve come across before. Google’s wearable can catch these events when they happen and call emergency contacts or the emergency services for help.
It’s invention could be “an airbag or smoke detector moment”, according to the experts.
Google announces the Pixel Buds Pro 2
The new wireless earbuds offer powerful noise-cancellation, an improved and more comfortable design, and seamless integration with Gemini.
You can hold a free-flowing and natural sounding conversation with Gemini in your ear, which feels eerily close to the science-fiction world of Her. There’s a range of male-sounding and female-sounding voices to pick from. It’s all seriously impressive stuff.