A trip down memory lane with Google Pixel: All the biggest changes to Google’s Android flagship series

The Google Pixel 7 series is right around the corner, and the company’s devices have taken several turns over the years. We wanted to take a trip down memory lane and explore each of the Pixel smartphones that have launched over the years and talk about some of their standout features when they launched.

Google’s Pixel series has had a long and weird road to get to where we are now, with some of the original devices in the series being completely unrecognizable from what we know the series to be now. The focus on software features has always been unwavering, but the company has made some odd decisions along the way.

Google Pixel

The Google Pixel 1 is, as the name implies, the first ever Pixel smartphone to have ever launched. It packed a wholly new design versus previous Nexus devices in the series and the beginnings of Google’s smarts in software. We saw one of the best cameras in a smartphone to date, the introduction of EAS ahead of the rest of the competition for fast and smooth scrolling, and a Google Assistant baked into Android for the first time. That camera aspect got even better with unlimited original storage on Google Photos promised to users for life.

Of course, it wasn’t without its problems either. It was more expensive when compared to previous Nexus smartphones, and the display was a bit dim to read in sunlight. Nevertheless, this set the tone that Google wasn’t here to play around and that it was beginning to take its own smartphone business seriously as an actual mainstream product.

Oh, also, it supported Google’s Daydream View VR headset natively. That product (and Daydream in general) is dead now, by the way. The final update this device received was in December of 2019, leaving it on Android 10.

Google Pixel 2

The Google Pixel 2’s entire motif was to improve upon the first Pixel, and it did in several key areas. For a start, there were actually two variants offered — a regular version, and an XL for those who prefer to have a larger phone screen. The smaller variant was manufactured by HTC and the larger one was manufactured by LG, with HTC’s larger variant being redeveloped into the HTC U11 Plus.

As for improvements, the company doubled down on both the camera experience and the Google Assistant. It introduced an “Active Edge” that could be used to call the assistant at any time by squeezing the side of your phone, and it also introduced the Google Lens app. Even better was the introduction of Now Playing, a feature akin to an always-listening Shazam. To this day, that’s still one of my favorite Pixel-exclusive features, though you can get it on any device now thanks to a mod.

One of the biggest and most interesting features introduced, looking back, was the introduction of the Pixel Visual Core. It was a custom image processor purely for photography and video and laid the groundwork for the company’s venture into custom chipsets years down the line. Nowadays, we see companies like OPPO and Xiaomi doing this, but Google was one of the first.

The final update that both of these devices received was a 2020 December security patch, leaving them on Android 11.

Google Pixel 3

The Google Pixel 3 is where things started to go a bit downhill for Google, and there were a couple of reasons for this. The first is completely design related, and to be honest, I’m not really sure how Google didn’t see the problem when it was designing the Google Pixel 3 XL. That notch was huge.

However, while the rest of the phone turned out pretty good at launch with better pictures, a dual front-facing camera, a ton of camera features, and more, there were a ton of issues discovered over the life-cycle of this product. However, even still, this phone was a big deal when it launched. It introduced Night Sight for the first time, Super Res Zoom, and Top Shot, while making use of the Pixel Visual Core introduced in the Pixel 2 for better quality photos and videos.

These devices also introduced wireless charging to the Pixel series for the first time, launching alongside the Pixel Stand with support up to 10W.

Google Pixel 4

The Google Pixel 4 continued the decline of the Pixel lineup in the eyes of enthusiasts, though it again packed a number of improvements. This time around though, there were a ton of problems that the Pixel 4 faced. Between the removal of a fingerprint sensor in favor of Soli, the company’s face unlock tech, poor battery life, and the removal of the Pixel-exclusive unlimited original quality photo storage from Google Photos, it was seen that Google was regressing a bit. The Pixel 4 XL also had a larger top bezel than the bottom, which looks out of place when typically it’s the other way around.

It wasn’t all bad though. The 4 XL saw the advent of a 90Hz display in a Pixel for the first time, Motion Sense that allowed you to use gestures over the phone’s Soli sensors (though they didn’t always work), and a second telephoto camera on the back. What was particularly annoying when it came to Soli was that, because it used the 60 GHz spectrum for radar, it required licensing in countries to work, or else it was geo-blocked.

What’s especially interesting to look back on now is that with this device, the Pixel Visual Core was succeeded by the Pixel Neural Core. Google was scarce on details, but basically, it was an improvement over the Pixel Visual Core. This phone may also have just received its last update, as the official support window recently ended. It currently has Android 13.

Google Pixel 5

This phone really ruffled some feathers when it launched, and for a couple of reasons. The biggest reason is that, with the Pixel 5, this was the first phone in the series to not pack a flagship chipset. The Google Pixel 5 came with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G, a top-tier mid-range chipset. However, the company retained all of the same software features that it always had, all while introducing a few more.

However, there’s no doubting that this was a weird entry into the Pixel lineup. It ditched the Pixel Neural Core, Soli, and Active Edge, went straight to Qualcomm for a mid-range chipset with no changes, and called it a day. The Pixel 4 was, in the eyes of many, still a better buy. While I loved the Pixel 5 and still think that it was absolutely worthy of the flagship moniker, it was a bit of a joke that its predecessor was probably a better phone in quite a lot of ways.

This is where Google began to double-down on some exclusive software features though, introducing Call Screen and the Personal Safety app. It also brought in Extreme Battery Saver and was fundamentally a good phone all-round. The Pixel 5 is expected to be supported until 2023.

Google Pixel 6

The Google Pixel 6 brings right up to last year, and it’s where Google basically reinvented a lot of its smartphone ecosystem. The Pixel 6 series took on a completely new design with updated camera modules, a custom chipset, and a much larger software support window. The company also did away with “XL” variants, and instead made a Pro and a non-Pro.

In the case of the Pro, you get an additional telephoto camera that supports up to four-times zoom. You also get a 50MP primary sensor and a 12MP ultrawide on both the Pixel 6 and the 6 Pro. Both devices come with wireless charging, the latest Android versions, and high-refresh-rate displays.

The future of Pixels

The future of the Google Pixel series is currently unknown, though leaks of the Pixel 7 series suggest that this time around will be a lot more iterative upon the Pixel 6 series rather than another radical reinvention of the wheel. We’ll be waiting to see what the company comes out with during its launch event, and we’re excited to see the future of the Pixel series and what Google comes up with next.