Unlock cool AI features with this Google Pixel 9 phone, currently on sale for Black Friday on Amazon

Updated Mar 6, 2025 2:14 am ET


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We all know that smartphones are supposed to make our lives easier. But how about a phone that helps you identify objects based on the photos you take of them, or summarizes your emails so you don’t have to waste time poring through them? That’s what the Google Pixel 9 provides, now that it’s equipped with Gemini AI. And with Amazon now offering it at a $150 discount for Black Friday, it’s also available at a fantastic price.

The Pixel 9 boasts a lot of improvements over its predecessors, from a wide-angle camera to smoother overall performance. Let’s hit the highlights and see why the Pixel 9 is a great choice if you’re looking for a smartly constructed Android phone with more advanced features.

Google Pixel 9 Unlocked Android Smartphone with Gemini, $649 (19% off)

Right from the get-go, you’ll note the Pixel 9’s new look compared to older Pixel phones. Its solid feel and rounded corners put it on par with other top-end phones. The scratch- and shatter-resistant 6.3-inch screen offers improved resolution of 2,424 by 1,080 pixels, and its top brightness of 2,700 nits outclasses other popular phones from Apple and Samsung.

This phone has an impressive IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, as well as face recognition and a new ultrasonic fingerprint sensor for security. Its 50-megapixel camera (48 megapixels for its ultrawide mode with macro focus) is also a stunner whether you’re taking photos or videos.

The Pixel 9 is just as formidable under the hood. Its Google Tensor G4 processor and 12GB of RAM make for smooth Internet browsing and app operation while also powering the phone’s many AI features. For example, you can use the phone’s Screenshots app to search your photo library and locate images based on your prompts (i.e., “my phone bill for November”), or the Pixel Studio app to generate your own images and add text, stickers and special effects to them. While the phone’s Gemini AI is still at an early stage, the AI features already present in the phone are exciting, and we can’t wait to see what other apps will soon become available.

Finally, we appreciate that the Google Pixel 9 is an “unlocked phone,” which gives you complete freedom to use whatever cellular plan you like. And with regular SIM card and ESIM options, you can order temporary ESIM plans for when you travel abroad while maintaining a regular cell and data plan at home.

It’s not easy to come up with a phone with a sleek design, crystal-clear display, a fantastic camera and up-to-the-second AI features, but that’s exactly what Google has achieved with the Pixel 9. We recommend it as a fantastic Black Friday buy, especially at its current limited-time price.

Ho Lin

Ho Lin

Author

Ho Lin is a content writer at McClatchy. He has over two decades of experience in content strategy, creation, and development, ranging from subjects such as anime and manga to military benefits, job search advice and AI evaluation. Ho is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and holds a M.A. in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University. Ho also writes both fiction and non-fiction; his books include China Girl and Bond Movies: A Retrospective.

Kayleigh Drake

Kayleigh Drake

Editor McClatchy Commerce

Kayleigh Drake is a Commerce Content Editor at McClatchy. She’s based in Birmingham, Alabama, and holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Kayleigh has written and edited content for numerous publications, with a particular focus on the food, kitchen, home and lifestyle verticals. When she’s not fulfilling her editorial duties, she loves record shopping, playing guitar, baking and buying entirely too many plants.