Google’s hardware event usually lands in October. This year it is on Tuesday 13 August at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View — 11 pm Bangladesh time — and the reason for the early date is the same as the reason for everything else in 2024: Google wants its AI phone in shops before Apple’s AI phone in September. Nearly all of the hardware has leaked; here is what to expect.
Four Pixel 9s
For the first time the line has four members: Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, a larger Pixel 9 Pro XL, and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which replaces last year’s Fold and is expected to be thinner with a bigger inner screen. All run Google’s Tensor G4 chip, the fourth generation of its in-house silicon, and all share a new design in which the camera bar no longer spans the phone but floats as a pill-shaped island. The smaller Pro is the interesting one — the full three-camera system in the compact size, which Google has never offered.
The AI features
Two have leaked with names. Add Me takes two group photos — one with the photographer absent, one with the photographer in and someone else out — and merges them with AI so everyone is in the frame. Pixel Screenshots is Google’s cautious answer to Microsoft’s Recall: an app that indexes the screenshots you choose to take, on the device, and lets Gemini answer questions about them. Beyond those, expect Gemini to be the default assistant with a live conversational mode, and expect the pitch to be “AI that runs on the phone”.
Android 15?
The rumour is that Google will release Android 15 alongside the phones, since the AI features shown at I/O in May depend on it. That would be unusual — the Pixel 9 may well ship on Android 14 with 15 following — and the smart money is on the software arriving later.
Watch and buds
Pixel Watch 3 comes in two sizes for the first time, 41 mm and 45 mm, with thinner bezels and an OLED display claimed to reach 2,000 nits. Pixel Buds Pro 2, two years after the first, are expected in four colours with better noise cancelling, a transparency mode and a larger battery.
The Bangladesh reality
Google does not sell Pixels in Bangladesh and never has. Every Pixel here is a grey import — usually from the US, Japan or Dubai — with no local warranty, a price 30–40 per cent above the sticker after duty and the importer’s margin, and, for the 9, a Tensor modem whose band support on local networks is worth checking before buying. The AI features will be in English. It is still the most interesting Android launch of the year; it is just not one Google is making for this market.
Update: Google announced all four Pixel 9 models, the Watch 3 and Buds Pro 2 on 13 August; Android 15 was not released at the event and followed in October.
Source: Indian Express, via Prothom Alo.
