At Made by Google (event recap here), the second major 2022 Google launch event after May's Google I/O, the company revealed its new phones and wearables products. Principle among which is the Google Pixel 7 Pro, the latest flagship, which updates its Pixel 6 Pro predecessor in a number of ways.
Although the hardware won't launch until 13 October, so a full week after the announcement, if you're pondering whether a pre-order is worth it – particularly from the angle of a Pixel 6 Pro upgrader (the standard Pixel 7 versus Pixel 6 compared here) – then let me take you through the key differences between the two Pixel Pro handsets and what's new in the Pixel 7 Pro in particular.
Pixel 7 Pro vs 6 Pro: Price
When the Pixel 6 Pro launched in late October 2021 it came with a £849/$899/AUD$1299 asking price. Which, given the glut of four-figure flagship phones out there at the time, made it pretty great value.
The Pixel 7 Pro's price is – and I'm almost shocked by this – exactly the same price at launch: £849/$899/AUD$1299. That's impressive given the current market, as even Apple's iPhone 14 saw a price increase in the UK and Australia due to weak market conditions against the US Dollar.
You can check out T3's Google Pixel 7 Pro deals feature to see what's up for grabs. The pre-order bundle – with Pixel Watch and Pixel Buds Pro – is available at a cut-price deal, for example, if you want to bag the full range.
Pixel 7 Pro vs 6 Pro: Colours
The Pixel 7 Pro comes in three colours: Obsidian (black), Snow (white), Hazel (sorta greyish), meaning it doesn't get the Lemongrass (yellow-green) finish of the standard Pixel 7.
You'll probably also notice that Google has got a lot more 'serious' about its naming conventions (well, not entirely: its Japanese promotion transformed those four finishes into actual boxes of crisps), because the Pixel 6 Pro came in the more playfully-named Cloudy White, Sorta Sunny, or Stormy Black.
Pixel 7 Pro vs 6 Pro: Design
The Pixel 7 Pro is almost identical in terms of size to the Pixel 6 Pro. The newer handset is a millimetre less tall and almost a millimetre wider, which I suspect you won't notice whatsoever as you'd need some advanced machine to measure for that.
Pixel 6 Pro dimensions and weight: 163.9 x 75.9 x 8.9mm / 210g
Pixel 7 Pro dimensions and weight: 162.9 x 76.6 x 8.9mm / 212g
In terms of actual finish it's a similar story between the two, both using Gorilla Glass and aluminium frames. The Pixel 7 Pro, however, has a single piece aluminium enclosure, including the camera bar, that's also made from 100 per cent recycled content.
Both handsets are IP68 dust- and water-resistant too.
And it would be remiss of me not to mention the Pixel 7 Pro's inclusion of Face Unlock on the font camera. That's a feature that's long been rumoured, complementing the fingerprint option for easy sign-in and security.
Pixel 7 Pro vs 6 Pro: Display
The reason the Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel 6 Pro are so similar in size is because they use precisely the same screen: both feature a 6.71-inch AMOLED panel with 1440 x 3120 pixels of resolution across the 19.5:9 aspect ratio.
Also expect 120Hz fast refresh, and support for HDR10+ high dynamic range, meaning super-bright content viewing is possible on either handset. So if you were hoping for a big screen upgrade then, well, the only key difference is the Pixel 7 Pro's 25% brighter output.
Pixel 7 Pro vs 6 Pro: Processor
The Pixel 7 Pro features Google's latest Tensor G2 chip, while the older Pixel 6 Pro features Google's previous-gen Tensor chip.
The key difference is process: Tensor G2 is 4nm, while the original Tensor is 5nm; meaning the newer chip should bring speed and battery gains.
Pixel 7 Pro vs 6 Pro: Cameras
At a glance the Pixel 7 Pro's and Pixel 6 Pro's camera specifications look much the same: both feature a 50-megapixel main camera, a 48MP telephoto, and a 12MP ultra-wide lens.
So what's the main difference? The Pixel 7 Pro's zoom is 4.8x, up from 4x, delivering a 120mm equivalent zoom; its ultra-wide is even wider-angle, too, delivering 125-degrees, up from 114-degrees.
A key new Pixel 7 Pro feature is Macro Focus. This, as the name suggests, allows for close-up focusing at up to just 3cm from the lens.
There's also been an increase to Super Res Zoom: the Pixel 7 Pro offers 30x compared to the Pixel 6 Pro's 20x.
Face Unblur also gets a boost, with Photo Unblur now available to try and get any photo sharper.
Worth the upgrade?
So is the Google Pixel 7 Pro an epic upgrade over the Google Pixel 6 Pro? As you can see from the information above, it's a fairly gentle generational shift, introducing a new and more powerful processor, a new finish, and marginally upgraded cameras.
I look forward to reviewing the Pixel 7 Pro, though, as I suspect its mixture of design, finish, Android 13, and solid cameras are likely to make it one of the best Android phones of 2022. Sure, if you can get a great cut-price Pixel 6 Pro deal then that may tempt you, but for me it's got to be about Pixel 7 Pro in Hazel.
