Final week, we unveiled Android Police’s Better of 2024, detailing all of our favourite smartphones, headphones, and a lot extra. This week, it is your flip. Over the previous ten days, we have requested AP readers to vote for his or her favourite Android telephone of the yr. It was a surprisingly shut race, however successful with simply 26 p.c of the vote, Google’s Pixel 9 Professional has been topped your winner.
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Regardless of its acquainted identify, the Pixel 9 Professional is an all-new launch from Google. It is what telephone nerds have begged for for years: every little thing that makes the bigger ‘Professional’ gadget value getting in a smaller package deal. Whereas I hesitate to name the Pixel 9 Professional “small” — it is nearly as tall as 2015’s Galaxy Word 5, in spite of everything — it does make for a way more comfy expertise in comparison with the Pixel 9 Professional XL, Galaxy S24 Extremely, or some other large-scale smartphone launched this yr. And that comes with out making sacrifices to something on the specs sheet other than its battery measurement.
Talking of the Pixel 9 Professional XL and Galaxy S24 Extremely, these are your second and third-place smartphones, respectively. The Pixel 9 Professional XL completed with 23 p.c of the vote, showcasing that, sure, Google was proper to anticipate demand for Professional-series gadgets at completely different sizes. The Galaxy S24 Extremely wasn’t fairly as shut, ending with 19 p.c of respondents selecting it. Regardless of some (legitimate) criticism dealing with its digicam efficiency, the big 6.8-inch show and built-in S Pen had been clearly sufficient to win over Galaxy followers for one more era. It will not be lengthy till we discover out if the Galaxy S25 can do the identical.
For now, although, it is the Pixel 9 Professional’s victory value celebrating. Personally talking, it has been my day by day driver for a lot of the yr following its launch, solely pausing whereas reviewing different gadgets or taking transient detours into the world of foldables. Whereas I might love for its successor to be even smaller — my kingdom for a Pixel 5-sized flagship — it is an ideal smartphone in its personal proper, and the markings of a very nice yr for Google’s lineup.
A few different gadgets value calling out from our ballot. The common Pixel 9 got here in a distant fourth place, netting 8 p.c of the vote, whereas the OnePlus 12 scored 6 p.c to shut out the highest 5. Each wonderful smartphones, for my part, however each struggled to outshine our high three flagships of the yr. The feedback part, in the meantime, noticed love for a handful of gadgets you possibly can’t formally purchase within the US, together with the Honor Magic 6 Professional, Magic V3, Vivo X100, and Sony’s Xperia 1 VI.
Contemplating the palpable pleasure round channels like Reddit in the direction of Google’s rumored swap to TSMC for its Tensor chip manufacturing, the Pixel 10 Professional — in some undisclosed measurement — seems like the plain favourite for 2025. Nonetheless, with the Galaxy S25 and OnePlus 13 proper across the nook, alongside potential spoilers from firms like Motorola, I would not be shocked to discover some severe surprises over the following twelve months of smartphone launches. In fact, solely time will inform.
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Evaluate: The Pixel 9 Professional is Google’s Goldilocks flagship
Not too large, not too small; good
Google Pixel 9 Professional
$839 $999 Save
$160
The Pixel 9 Professional is a brand new addition to Google’s lineup, slotting in as a smaller premium flagship to pair with the Pixel 9 Professional XL. The latter is the direct successor to 2023’s Pixel 8 Professional regardless of its new XL moniker, whereas the Pixel 9 Professional brings a brand new form-factor to Google’s high-end choices, sporting the identical dimensions as the usual Pixel 9 mannequin whereas packing all of the AI and digicam prowess we have grown accustomed to from Google’s Professional lineup.