What you must know
- Google’s Pixel 9 Professional is poking enjoyable at Apple over a current string of iPhone 17 rumors.
- The rumors recommend the machine may undertake a horizonal digicam bar, which seems loads like the newest Pixel lineup.
- Google’s design director said final summer season that the Pixel 9’s giant digicam bump is a product of shopper pursuits, as individuals wish to take good, high-quality images.
Google’s #BestPhonesForever sequence is again, and this time, the corporate is teasing Apple over a rumor.
Google posted a brand new entry to the sequence on YouTube, saying the present’s host, Pixel, is “Responding to the Rumors” with its finest buddy, the iPhone. The 2 gadgets are discussing the current string of rumors relating to Apple’s potential design for the iPhone 17. As talks start, the iPhone says, “It is loopy, are you able to think about me doing the identical factor you probably did first years later?” The Pixel quips again, “Sounds fairly far-fetched.”
One have a look at this rumored design can be seen on Reddit, the place customers mentioned the purported new Pixel-like look. The rumored render reveals Apple’s iPhone with a horizontal digicam bar state of affairs, which supplies us critical Pixel 9 sequence vibes.
However, our associates at TechRadar highlighted a set of alleged CAD renderings, which proceed the horizontal bar narrative. Picture runs via just a few variations, even a small vertical island, however the Pixel-esque design remains to be obvious. Nonetheless, because the publication notes, the rumors recommend the bar can be barely greater on the machine and will develop much more for Apple’s iPhone 17 Professional and 17 Professional Max if it is to be believed.
Google’s Unapologetic Digicam Bar

Regardless, these are nothing however rumors, because the Pixel and iPhone state of their podcast. Google did not finish there with the rumors, because the iPhone walked via different methods Apple “copied” the Pixel. The video highlights Google’s Night time Sight and Apple’s Night time Mode “a yr later.” There’s additionally the Magic Eraser and Clear Up comparability, too.
Google’s Pixel 9 sequence digicam bar is (unapologetically) enormous, however the firm’s design director says there is a purpose why. Final August, Claude Zellweger, Google’s Director of Design for Pixel telephones, held an interview the place they mentioned why the digicam bump is the best way it’s. The principle takeaway was that the Pixel 9’s digicam bar was the product of shopper pursuits. Zellweger said Google understands that customers need the flexibility to take good, high-quality footage.
Attaining such a feat, in a handheld machine like a cellphone, requires sturdy sensors and lenses. These items of {hardware} aren’t small or skinny, thus the huge digicam bump we’ve right now. Zellweger teased that the most important bump may not final perpetually, and that is not too long ago come true with the Pixel 9a reveal.
A few of chances are you’ll keep in mind Google’s #BestPhonesForever advert marketing campaign from the corporate’s efforts to attract consciousness to the similarities between its Pixel and the iPhone. A earlier one we have coated concerned the Pixel 7 Professional highlighting its potential to unblur images and seize the evening sky, whereas additionally offering a VPN to customers. Google additionally confirmed off the Pixel Fold, poking Apple because it’s but to create a foldable iPhone. There are 28 movies in complete, all of which characteristic banter between the 2 gadgets.
The Pixel 9 Professional is the center baby this yr, delivering a 6.3-inch flat show with a 120Hz refresh fee. Google carried out a trove of its Gemini AI smarts within the Pixel 9 Professional, similar as the remainder of the sequence. The cellphone additionally encompasses a triple digicam array, consisting of a 50MP main lens, a 48MP wide-angle lens, and a 48MP digicam with 5x optical zoom.