After months of leaks and rumors, Google finally launched the Pixel 9 series at the Made By Google event earlier today. While the phones come with all the bells and whistles expected from a flagship series, in a first, Google Pixel 9 series phones aren"t launching with the latest version of Android.
Upon unboxing their Pixel 9 series phone, customers will see that their Pixel 9 series phones boot with Android 14 out of the box instead of Android 15. It seems like Android 15 is not ready and still requires some refinement before its stable release. Google has not explained why Android 15 isn"t available on their new phones.
Notably, some Android 15 features have been backported to Android 14. For example, the tweaked screenshot UI in which the preview appears over the pill-shaped menu with rounded buttons. Then there is "Gemini Live" the new Gemini overlay floating over apps, and the Pixel Studio image generator.
However, features like "Private Space" haven"t made it to Pixel 9 phones running Android 14, as it requires Android 15. All other Pixel AI features, including "Add Me" and "Reimagine" are available and running over Android 14.
Reportedly, it shouldn"t take long for the Pixel 9 series phones to pick up the Android 15 update. It is speculated that the latest Android version could land on Pixel 9 phones sometime in October, purportedly in the form of "Pixel Drop." This means that Pixel 9 phones will miss out on one major Android update during its update cycle.
To prevent users from feeling disappointed, Google is offering a pretty good deal, i.e., Google One AI Premium Plan free for a year. This should help make up for the missing Android 15 features for those who purchased the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, or the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
This means users can access advanced AI features such as Gemini Advanced, Google Docs and Gmail integration, unlimited Magic Editor saves in Google Photos, access to expert support, device insurance, etc., plus 2TB of storage.
Source: 9To5Google