I’ve owned every Pixel phone Google has released. Before that, I carried Nexus devices, starting with the Nexus 5 and eventually moving to the Nexus 6 and Nexus 6P. One of the reasons I always looked forward to Google’s phone launches was because there was usually something new and big to get excited about. Sometimes it was a major camera upgrade. Sometimes it was a completely different design. Sometimes it was a huge jump in performance. Whatever it was, it felt like every year you were getting a noticeably better phone.
Over the last few years, though, that feeling has started to fade. Smartphones are still great, don’t get me wrong. Modern flagship phones are faster than most people will ever need, the displays are great, and even mid-range phones take pretty good photos these days. The problem isn’t that phones have gotten worse. The problem is that it feels like the things companies are most excited about aren’t actually happening on the phone anymore.
The thing that got me thinking about this was a recent report from 9to5Google regarding the Pixel Screenshots app. Google apparently changed the wording from “Search your screenshots with on-device AI” to simply “Search your screenshots with AI,” with updated language noting that processing can happen on your device or in the cloud. On its own, that’s not a huge deal. Features evolve, technology changes, and cloud processing isn’t automatically a bad thing. But it made me stop and think about where the smartphone industry is heading.
Maybe I’m oversimplifying things, but it feels like we’ve reached a point where companies are spending more time selling us cloud services and AI features than they are improving the actual hardware we’re carrying around every day. That’s what worries me. Not because I hate AI, but because I’m starting to wonder if we’re entering an era where the biggest “upgrades” aren’t really happening on the phone at all.
If AI Runs in the Cloud, Why Am I Upgrading My Hardware?
The thing I keep getting hung up on is that Google has spent years telling us that Tensor exists because of AI. Every Pixel launch seems to include a presentation about on-device AI, privacy, and how these experiences can happen directly on your phone without needing to send everything off to a server somewhere. That’s been one of the major selling points of Pixel phones for several generations now.
That’s why seeing features slowly move toward cloud processing feels strange to me. Pixel Screenshots is one example, but it’s not the only one. Magic Cue is another feature that relies on cloud processing because Google says it can provide results faster. I understand the reasoning behind it. Cloud servers are obviously more powerful than the chip in your pocket. If the goal is to provide the best possible experience, I can see why Google would make that decision.
The problem is that it starts raising questions about where all of this is headed. If Google’s biggest AI features increasingly depend on cloud processing, what exactly am I buying new hardware for? Tensor gets a little faster every year, but if the most impressive AI experiences are happening on Google’s servers instead of on my phone, it becomes harder to understand what role the hardware is actually playing.
Maybe that’s unfair, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about more lately. The Pixel 10 Pro XL doesn’t feel dramatically different from the Pixel 9 Pro XL. The Pixel 9 Pro XL didn’t feel dramatically different from the Pixel 8 Pro. That’s not necessarily Google’s fault because smartphones have matured quite a bit, but it does make feature lockouts feel harder to justify. When a new AI feature is announced and it’s only available on the latest Pixel, I can’t help but wonder whether the older device truly can’t handle it or whether Google simply needs a reason for people to upgrade.
That’s really where my concern comes from. I’m not anti-AI and I’m not anti-cloud processing. If something genuinely works better in the cloud, then use the cloud. I just don’t want to get to a point where companies are charging flagship prices for hardware while simultaneously telling us that the most important features are happening somewhere else.
Pixel Video Still Feels Like Google’s Biggest Weakness
The easiest example of this, at least for me, is video recording.
I’ve owned every Pixel phone Google has released, and while Google’s camera reputation is well deserved, I think a lot of that reputation comes from photography. When it comes to taking photos, Pixels are still some of the best phones you can buy. It’s gotten to the point where my girlfriend, a lifelong iPhone user, prefers taking photos with my phone. Whether we’re on vacation, the dogs are doing something funny, or we’re out for a walk, I’ll usually get a nudge followed by, “Give me your phone.” Nine times out of ten, she wants to use the Pixel to capture the moment.
A few photos captured on my Pixel during a recent vacation.
Video has always been a different story.
Every year I watch the comparisons. Every year I tell myself maybe this is the generation where Google finally catches up. Every year the gap gets a little smaller, but I still come away feeling like Apple cares more about video than Google does. That’s honestly the biggest thing that keeps the door cracked open for me when it comes to iPhones. I’ve never switched and I don’t really have any plans to, but if someone asked me today which phone I’d trust more to record an important moment, I’d probably pick the iPhone without even thinking about it.
One thing I noticed during a recent vacation was just how many photos I took with my Pixel. By the time the trip was over, I had hundreds of photos on my phone. Sunsets, wildlife, random things we saw while walking around, flowers, boats, pretty much anything that caught my eye. The camera never crossed my mind because I trusted it to get a great shot every time.
What I didn’t come home with was hundreds of videos.
Maybe that’s a me problem. Maybe I just don’t record enough video in general. But I also think part of it comes down to confidence. When I pull out my Pixel to take a photo, I know there’s a good chance it’s going to look fantastic. When it comes to video, I’ve never felt that same level of confidence. It’s not that Pixel video is bad, because it isn’t. It’s actually pretty good. It just doesn’t feel like the best. For a company that has become known for its cameras, that’s always felt a little strange to me.
What frustrates me is that Google doesn’t seem to view this as a major problem. Instead of aggressively improving video recording year after year, we got Video Boost. Maybe some people love it, but I’ve never understood the appeal. If I want to record a video of my dogs running around the yard, my girlfriend doing something funny, or a cool car at an event, I shouldn’t have to think ahead of time about whether I want special cloud processing enabled. I definitely shouldn’t have to upload the footage somewhere else and wait for the final result.
The thing is, I don’t think Pixel video is bad. That’s what makes it even more frustrating. It’s actually pretty good. But when you’re charging flagship prices, “pretty good” shouldn’t be the goal. Google has spent years talking about AI features, AI assistants, AI photo editing, AI screenshot search, and everything else under the sun. Meanwhile, one of the most obvious weaknesses of the Pixel lineup still hasn’t been fully addressed.
Maybe that’s why the cloud AI conversation bothers me so much. Every time I see a new AI feature announced, I can’t help but think about all the things I’d rather see improved first. If Google walked on stage tomorrow and announced that Pixel video finally matched or surpassed the iPhone, I’d probably be more excited about that than any AI feature they’ve announced in the last few years.
Apple Is Heading Down the Same Path
As much as I’ve focused on Google so far, I don’t think this is exclusively a Pixel problem. Apple is heading down the same road.
Just look at the last couple of years. Apple Intelligence became one of the biggest talking points around the iPhone, and I fully expect AI to remain front and center for future launches. That’s not surprising. Every major tech company is chasing AI right now, and Apple would be crazy not to participate.
What concerns me is that the hardware side of smartphones seems to be slowing down at the same time. Every company is talking about smarter assistants, better AI writing tools, image generation, summaries, and cloud-powered experiences. Meanwhile, a lot of the actual hardware improvements are becoming harder and harder to notice during day-to-day use.
At least Apple has generally done a better job bringing software features to older devices when possible. That’s something that has always frustrated me about the Pixel lineup. When a new Pixel launches, it sometimes feels like Google is scrambling to find exclusive software features that justify the upgrade, even when the hardware differences between generations aren’t all that dramatic.
My Pixel 10 Pro XL is a great phone, but let’s be honest: it isn’t radically different from the Pixel 9 Pro XL. The Pixel 9 Pro XL wasn’t radically different from the Pixel 8 Pro XL either. That’s just the reality of modern smartphones. We’ve reached a point where year-over-year improvements are smaller than they’ve ever been.
That’s why feature lockouts feel more questionable than they used to. When a new AI feature is announced, I find myself asking whether my older device truly can’t run it or whether Google simply needs a reason for people to buy the newest phone. Maybe there are legitimate technical limitations behind some of these decisions, but when the hardware changes are relatively minor, it becomes harder not to be skeptical.
The funny thing is that I don’t think Google is alone here. Apple, Samsung, and pretty much everyone else are trying to figure out the same problem: how do you convince people to upgrade when the phones are already really good? Right now, the answer seems to be AI. I’m just not convinced that’s going to be enough forever.
The Upgrades I Actually Want
The thing is, I’m not sitting here expecting smartphone companies to reinvent the wheel every year. We’ve reached a point where modern smartphones are incredibly good, and I understand that we’re probably never going back to the days where every new generation felt revolutionary.
What I do think is that there are still plenty of areas that deserve more attention than they’re getting.
Battery life is probably at the top of my list.
I know battery technology isn’t the most exciting thing to talk about during a launch event, but it’s one of the few things that every smartphone owner notices every single day. I notice when I’m at 20% battery before dinner. I notice when I need to throw my phone on a charger before heading out somewhere. I notice when I’m traveling and have to think about bringing a battery pack with me.
That’s why it’s always a little frustrating to see companies spend twenty minutes talking about AI features while battery improvements get mentioned in a single slide.
What’s even more frustrating is that there are companies experimenting with newer battery technologies right now. Chinese manufacturers have been pushing silicon-carbon batteries into more devices, allowing for larger capacities without making phones significantly bigger. Meanwhile, it feels like most mainstream flagship phones are still taking baby steps forward every year.
Video recording is another one that I’ve already talked about, but it’s worth mentioning again because it’s something I use constantly. The same goes for charging speeds, modem performance, thermals, and camera hardware. These aren’t flashy features that make for great keynote demonstrations, but they’re the things people interact with every single day after the excitement of launch week wears off.
Maybe that’s just me, but if Google walked on stage tomorrow and announced a Pixel with a silicon-carbon battery, I’d probably be more excited than if they announced ten new Gemini features and a free AI subscription. Battery life is something I notice every single day. Notification summaries are something I forget exists half the time.
That’s the kind of stuff that still gets me excited about new hardware. Not because it’s flashy, but because it actually changes what it’s like to live with the device every day.
Are Smartphones Becoming Subscription Products?
Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself here, but it’s hard not to wonder where all of this eventually leads.
The more companies invest in AI, the more cloud processing becomes involved, and the more services become attached to our devices, the more it feels like the phone itself is becoming secondary. The hardware is still important, obviously, but it doesn’t seem to be the star of the show anymore.
A few years ago, the entire pitch behind a flagship phone was pretty straightforward. Better camera. Better battery life. Better performance. Better display. Even if the improvements were small, the focus was still on making the phone itself better than the one that came before it.
Now it feels like the conversation is shifting toward ecosystems, subscriptions, cloud services, and AI features. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make me wonder what happens when those services become more important than the hardware they’re running on.
Maybe that’s already happening.
Google has Gemini Advanced. Apple is expected to continue expanding Apple Intelligence. Microsoft is putting AI into everything it touches. Every major technology company seems convinced that AI services are going to be a huge part of the future, and they’re probably right.
What I’m not convinced about is whether consumers actually want those services more than they want better hardware.
Sometimes I think back to products like Whoop. The hardware is important, but the subscription is really the product. The hardware exists because you need something to access the service. Smartphones obviously aren’t there yet, but I don’t think it’s crazy to wonder if that’s where the industry eventually ends up.
Imagine a future where you get a phone for a heavily discounted price as long as you subscribe to some premium AI plan. A few years ago that idea would have sounded ridiculous. Today, I’m not so sure. The more companies push cloud-based features and AI subscriptions, the less far-fetched it seems.
Maybe none of that happens. Maybe I’m overthinking it. But when I look at the direction the industry is moving, I can’t help but feel like we’re getting closer to a world where the software subscription matters more than the phone itself. As someone who has always loved smartphones because of the hardware, that’s not a future I’m particularly excited about.
I Miss Being Excited About New Phones
The funny thing is that after all of this complaining, I’ll probably still buy the next Pixel.
I’ve been an Android user for years, and I still think Pixel phones offer some of the best software experiences available today. That’s probably why this topic bothers me so much. Despite all my complaints, I still enjoy using a Pixel more than any other smartphone.
Just look at what happened when I picked up a Galaxy Watch Ultra. On paper, it was a much better device than my Pixel Watch 3. The battery life was better. The hardware was better. The durability was better. I was genuinely excited about it. Then I actually used it. Eventually I ended up going back to my Pixel Watch because the software experience wasn’t as good. In fact, I ended up writing an entire article about it. That’s the thing people often miss when discussing Google hardware. Google has built an ecosystem that is incredibly hard to leave once you’re invested in it.
That’s why I find myself being more critical of Google than some other companies. I don’t want to switch to an iPhone. I don’t want to switch to Samsung. I want Google to focus on improving the things that still need improvement.
I know what Google is capable of. I’ve watched the company push smartphone photography forward. I’ve watched it introduce genuinely useful software features. I’ve watched it take risks when other companies were playing it safe. That’s part of what made being a Pixel and Nexus fan fun in the first place.
Lately, though, it feels like the smartphone industry has become obsessed with AI. Every launch event, every commercial, every keynote seems to focus on assistants, summaries, generators, and cloud-powered features. Some of those features are useful. Some of them are even impressive. But very few of them are the reason I pull my phone out of my pocket every day.
What I notice every day is battery life. I notice video quality. I notice charging speeds. I notice reception. I notice thermals. I notice whether my phone gets through a busy day without making me think about where the nearest charger is.
Maybe that’s the part that feels lost right now.
I don’t think AI is going away, and I don’t think it should. There are plenty of ways it can make smartphones better. I just don’t want hardware innovation to become an afterthought while companies race to build the next AI feature.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this is just the next phase of smartphones and I’m struggling to adjust to it. But when I think about the upgrades that would genuinely get me excited to buy a new phone tomorrow, they still have a lot more to do with the device in my hand than the servers powering it somewhere else.
