Google Pixel 4 and 4 XL review: fast face unlock, smooth display, and great still camera, but average video recording and battery life, and no ultrawide camera
There's a baseline for “fast enough” on Android phones, and the Pixel 4 more than hits it. It might not be the fastest Android phone …
Context & Ripple Effects
Three years after the original Pixel launched with long battery life and a great still camera, the Pixel 4 repeats the formula but flips the weaknesses: face unlock and display smoothness are now the headline strengths, while battery life and video recording slip to average. The still-camera lead persists across every Pixel reviewed since, but the gaps around it keep changing shape.
What makes this review consequential for the lineup's direction is what follows it: within a year, Google ships the $349 Pixel 4A with the same flagship-tier photo quality and more acceptable battery life, and later the Tensor-powered Pixel 6a continues the pattern — suggesting the A-series was already absorbing the flagship's best feature.
First-order effects
- Buyers choosing between the Pixel 4 and rivals now weigh a best-in-class still camera against two concrete deficits — average video recording and battery life, plus a missing ultrawide lens that competitors' flagships carry.
- Google's flagship pitch narrows to computational photography and face unlock, ceding the spec-sheet comparison on display versatility and endurance.
Second-order effects
- The Pixel 4A's arrival at $349 with comparable photo quality undercuts the Pixel 4's own value proposition, pushing price-sensitive buyers down the lineup and pressuring Google to justify the flagship premium.
- Competitors' ultrawide cameras become table stakes that Google must answer in the next generation rather than differentiate around.
Third-order effects
- Across four years of reviews — from the 2016 original through the 6a and the Pixel 8a's 120Hz OLED and strong battery — the durable pattern is a camera-first brand whose non-camera shortcomings shrink slowly, leaving the midrange A-series as the line's real volume engine and the flagship as its technology showcase.
The trend: Google's Pixel strategy is converging on camera-led differentiation at every price tier, with the A-series steadily eroding the reason to buy the flagship itself.