Google has largely stuck with the same design for its flagship phones since the Pixel 6 introduced the rear camera bar layout, but that appears set to change with this year’s Pixel 9 series. After introducing a search bar look for the camera cutout on the Pixel 8, it seems the company is going all in with that design language for its 2024 flagships, morphing the camera bar into a pill-shaped rounded protrusion. Now, a leaked set of live photos of what appears to be the Pixel 9 Pro gives us our best look yet at the new design changes, and some of them might not be well-received.
The Pixel 9 series is Google’s biggest mobile shakeup since Tensor — here’s what we’re expecting
Russian-language site Rozetked posted a set of live photos showing the upcoming device from all angles (via Google News Telegram). In them, you can see the new rounded camera bar, which appears to be the only piece of metal on the outside of the phone that isn’t finished with a mirror polish. The frame is much flatter than the Pixel 8 Pro’s rounded sides, but there’s a slight curve to the metal as it meets the glass of the front and back panels.
One change that might be controversial with longtime Pixel users is the fact that the symmetric bottom speaker and mic cutouts are no longer present, with the cutout on the right being replaced with the SIM card tray, which has moved from the left side of the phone. However, this is more of a cosmetic change than a functional one, as the cutout being displaced is the one for the microphone, which appears to have been replaced by a hole rather than a slot.
The corners of the phone in these pictures are more rounded than those of the Pixel 8 series, which had already increased the corner radius compared to the Pixel 7 series. This gives Google’s phone a similar silhouette to Apple’s iPhone 15 series and mirrors leaks we’ve seen of the Pixel 8a that show an increased corner radius as well.
Source: All New Pixel 9 Pro Photos Show Contested Design Changes