Google’s head of Pixel 9 design won’t apologize for its big, beautiful camera bump
Google design director Claude Zellweger holds up a Pixel 9 series phone in a form-fitting case. “It’s the first time we’ve designed the phone and case hand in hand,” he says. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
There’s one thing about the just-announced Google Pixel 9 that’s hard to convey in photos — its camera bar is prominent. Bigger than ever before. It’s roughly as thick as two US quarters stacked together — nearly a third as thick as the entire rest of the phone. It’s so big even the vanilla Pixel 9 is now roughly as thick as a “Pro” iPhone, with a far more prominent camera module.
I’ve never felt a bump quite like it, but I don’t hate it! I argued in 2022 that Google’s camera bar was a good thing: the first major smartphone design element that’s truly Google’s own. In an era when most everyone’s phone is a simple rounded rectangle, it’s a playful way to stand out, giving the phone a cute robot face.
I…