Pixel 9 and Pixel Watch 3 launch date set for mid-August

It seems that some companies are moving up their schedules this year. Samsung has officially confirmed that its Galaxy Unpacked Summer edition will happen a few weeks earlier compared to last year’s event, setting the date for the 10th of July. Google, however, isn’t going to be outdone and is actually taking an even earlier date, more than two months in advance, in fact. Although details are still a bit scant at the moment, Google has more or less announced that its next product launch is being held in August instead of October, enough reason for fans to be excited and, at the same time, perhaps a bit perplexed at the sudden change in cadence.

Designer: Google

Picking a launch window for a product is actually a very complicated process. Companies have to take into consideration multiple factors, including the timeline of component manufacturers, their own previous products, as well as the movements of their rivals. For a few years now, Google has traditionally made October its stronghold while Samsung picked late July or early August and Apple has consistently used September for its own purposes.

Now Google is seemingly throwing caution to the wind and will launch its next new products on August 13th, two months earlier than usual. There are a few theories being pushed forward as to why the tech giant decided on such a drastic change, including how there won’t be significant hardware upgrades that would require waiting for components to arrive first. The favorite speculation, however, is that Google wants to put a heavy focus on AI just as it did at I/O 2024 last May. Not only will it need to get the word out early, it also needs to do it before Apple’s own “Apple Intelligence” iPhone debut in September.

Regardless of the reason, Google’s product lineup is expected to be packed this year with no less than three Pixel 9 models, four if you include the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, formerly known as the Pixel Fold 2. Google’s own teaser pretty much confirms the big design change that will happen this year, with the iconic visor giving way to a rounded rectangle bar across the width of the phone’s back. It will definitely be a divisive change, just as the visor design itself proved to be controversial despite being quite distinctive.

Also expected to land next month are new Pixel wearables, including the Pixel Watch 3 and a long overdue Pixel Buds Pro successor. Based on rumors, the Pixel Watch 3 will not have any big design changes compared to its previous two predecessors, while details on the design of the Pixel Buds Pro 2 are almost non-existent. Either way, it seems that these two device lines haven’t made inroads in the design department, leaving a few Pixel fans probably a bit less enthusiastic about upgrading to them.