After I energy up a Google Pixel 7 Professional in 2025, it seems like a special firm made the telephone. Google used to frustrate me, seemingly ignoring legit consumer complaints 12 months after 12 months with its smartphones. Pixels have been plagued with the identical points yearly, and it was troublesome to advocate a Google smartphone.
Nevertheless, occasions have modified, and Google’s {hardware} has improved, with the Pixel 9 Professional XL being a simple advice for many smartphone customers. This spectacular transformation in beneath three years exhibits Google’s dedication to competing towards Samsung and Apple. Right here’s what stands proud in regards to the Pixel 7 Professional and what Google did within the final couple of years to make sure the Pixel 9 Professional XL is a telephone that would reverse the corporate’s faltering buyer satisfaction.
Learn our assessment
Google Pixel 9 Professional XL: The very best huge Android telephone
Google’s huge flagship earns its $100 value bump after which some
The Pixel 7 Professional felt unfinished
Not Google’s finest effort
Google used premium supplies for the Pixel 7 Professional, however the result’s something however. Within the hand, the design feels unfinished, virtually tough, with sharp corners and a plain digital camera bar. The Pixel 7 Professional appears extra like a prototype than a flagship product, and the corporate had a lot to refine on the considerably higher Pixel 8 Professional. Google’s path wasn’t clear with the Pixel 7 Professional. I loved the Pixel 6’s goofy Google aesthetic, however the firm misplaced that allure with the Pixel 7 Professional. It was a bland system, meant to be a refined, mature model of the Pixel 6, but it surely fell flat.
I couldn’t stand older Pixel shows, with the Pixel 7 Professional being a chief instance.
Google additionally hadn’t found the magic of a frosted or matte end on the glass on the again of its smartphones. The Pixel 7 Professional was a fingerprint magnet, and also you’d go away fingerprints since you needed to grip it tightly — the telephone was slippery. The aluminum body on the Pixel 7 Professional was premium, but it surely heated up because of the telephone’s poor thermals. The Pixel 8 Professional and Pixel 9 Professional fastened most of those points with a refined, pleasing design and matte glass backs. Google made the Pixel appear and feel like a $1,000 flagship smartphone — one thing lacking from earlier generations.
The efficiency fell flat, together with the battery life
Lower than flagship requirements
I used to be excited in regards to the second-generation Tensor chipset within the Pixel 7 Professional. Google did an honest job dialing within the first-gen Tensor with updates over the 12 months on the Pixel 6, so I figured the corporate would have issues dialed in for spherical two — I used to be fallacious. The Tensor G2 was a step backward, returning to the overheating and thermal throttling I had on my Pixel 6 at launch. It didn’t assist that the Tensor G2 did not benchmark in addition to different telephones in its value vary. Google targeted much less on AI and the consumer expertise on the time, making Tensor deficiencies extra obvious. Poor thermals additionally decreased battery life, as I struggled to get 6 hours of display time with my Pixel 7 Professional.
Fortunately, Google realized its lesson for the final two Tensor chipsets. My Tensor G3 within the Pixel 8 Professional carried out properly, rising battery life and giving me clean efficiency with out overheating. Some customers nonetheless complained of slight heat, however I felt nothing out of the strange, and I by no means observed the identical degree of warmth I bought from earlier Pixels. In consequence, battery life improved, with my Pixel 8 Professional and Pixel 9 Professional XL routinely getting 8–9 hours of display time from a single cost, extra in step with what’s anticipated from an costly flagship system.
Pixel shows have been subpar
They couldn’t get any worse
I couldn’t stand older Pixel shows, with the Pixel 7 Professional being a chief instance. The Pixel 7 Professional’s panel was bland and dim, and I at all times needed to flip up the brightness to 100%, even for indoor viewing. The colours didn’t pop off the display, and Google by no means matched the colourful shows on the Samsung Galaxy telephones. The Pixel 7 Professional wasn’t a one-off, as I’d been complaining about substandard Pixel shows for the reason that Pixel 4 XL. Sadly, Google wasn’t listening, however issues circled rapidly with the Pixel 8 Professional.
Google’s Tremendous Actua shows wholly reworked how I view the corporate’s screens. Google went from having the worst panels on flagship telephones to a few of the finest. The show on my Pixel 9 Professional XL is vibrant and saturated, and in some methods, I discovered it higher than the display on my Galaxy S24 Extremely final 12 months. Even the Actua shows on the Pixel 9 and Pixel 8a are leagues higher than what got here earlier than, with dim shows particularly plaguing the Pixel A-series telephones. I consider it’s one other space the place Google listened to consumer complaints and a key to the corporate’s turnaround.
Google discovered its means out of a troublesome spot
I used to be down on Google after the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7. The corporate appeared tone-deaf, unable to make even fundamental modifications and enhancements to its gadgets to repair long-standing points. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 present how rapidly issues can change in know-how and the way you shouldn’t dismiss an organization simply due to a tough patch. I’m glad I caught with Google. Whereas Gemini Stay and a few of the firm’s AI software program nonetheless want some enchancment, I’m assured they’ll constantly ship high quality {hardware}.