I’ve been using the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL for nearly two months now, and I keep getting surprised by how good the camera is. I know, I know, this is a Pixel, it’s supposed to have a good camera. But my past year with the Pixel 9 Pro XL left me with a sour taste in my mouth.
The Pixel 9 underwhelmed me, repeatedly, with its camera performance. I’d see a beautiful, colorful scene, try to snap it, and get a boring, lifeless shot instead. While the Google Pixel 10 series fixes this, it has opened my eyes to how bad the Pixel 9 has been, so much so that I think what Google has done to that camera and its users is criminal.
If you don’t believe me, or if you need proof that I’m not exaggerating, I just want you to look at these two photos that I took a couple of weeks ago. Just look.
Pixel 9 Pro XL Pixel 10 Pro XL
Turning such a vibrant, colorful shot into a single-hue cold blue scene is so discouraging. You’d think one of the best camera phones, the one that comes from a long succession of phones lauded for their realistic photos, would capture the “real” scene. The real tones. The real colors. But no. In its search to desaturate and force a single white balance on every photo, the Pixel 9 Pro XL strips all nuance and color from that scene. No amount of Photoshop or Lightroom editing can salvage this. Truly unforgivable, Google.
Pixels used to capture the real scene, real tones, and real colors. The Pixel 9 captures a fake reality.
Some of you might say, “Maybe the light was changing inside the museum, and you took the Pixel 9 shot when the color had changed.” No. The light was stable between both shots. I didn’t change for the entire time that I was there.
Some of you will say it’s a fluke or user error. Maybe the phone didn’t analyze the scene well enough. Maybe I didn’t wait or focus properly. Well, no. I tried to snap this photo several times, and the result was the same, time and again. What I noticed was that the moment I opened the Pixel 9’s camera, it saw the purples, then it slowly drowned them out. By the time the photo was shot and processed, everything was drenched in blue with colder yellow lights instead of the vibrant orange.
I can’t get over the difference. I’ve tried to joke about it since I took these photos, but the more I look at them, the sadder and angrier I get. It is disheartening to think that many pics I’ve taken in the past year were affected by this phenomenon and stripped of their colors, forever saved as a lifeless version of reality. It’s even more depressing to think that many Pixel 9 users out there are still getting the same results to this day, since the majority probably didn’t upgrade to the Pixel 10. Maybe some of them had bought a Pixel for the first time, noticed this camera performance, and decided to never buy a Pixel again. In fact, thousands of votes and dozens of comments did confirm that over 50% of Pixel 9 owners weren’t always happy with the camera performance.
It's sad to think that many Pixel 9 owners are still getting these sad excuses for photos until this very day.
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