Google Pixel 8: These originally planned features are likely to appear in the Pixel 9 in 2024

The leaks in the run-up to the Pixel 8 launch event have consistently proven to be inaccurate. The most prominent example of this is the leak about the ISOCELL GN2 sensor, which now turns out to be GNV, a rather minimal upgrade compared to the ISOCELL GN1 in the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7. That information from software developers is not always 100 percent reliable is also shown in other supposed features that were originally planned for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, but were not approved by Google at the last minute.

One of these features were, for example, the desktop mode that has been discovered every now and then in the Android code for years, but has been repeatedly postponed and was still not ready for the Pixel 8, as Android expert Mishaal Rahman explains on Android Authority. Developer and leaker Kamila Wojciechowska actually expected this to be ready for the new Pixel Phone along with the video-out function, which also has not been activated. The fact that Google is working on a DeX alternative has been proven several times in the Android code - perhaps it'll be ready for the Pixel 9 in 2024.

Another anticipated feature was 8K video, which is very important in Samsung flagships. Both the camera sensors and the Tensor G3 ISP are capable of this, but the Google Camera app alone is not, as Kamila pointed out in her leak. Nothing appears to have changed: videos are still limited to 4K recordings at 60 fps. Last but not least, the expansion of slow motion recordings to 480 fps at 720p quality did not appear as expected, so the corresponding code passages in this regard have now been marked as outdated.