introduction
After last year's Pixel returned to the flagship scene, 2022 brings even more evolutionary upgrades to Google's line of phones. The Pixel 7 and 7 Pro come with the usual chipset upgrades, camera tweaks here or there, and a refined design, on top of some software novelties.
Naturally, our eyes are drawn to the Pros more than the vanilla, so we started our review journey with that one. One of the two main differences this year, looking at the spec sheet, is the new telephoto camera, which trades in a larger sensor size for a longer zoom range - which doesn't immediately surprise us as an entirely positive development, even though the 5x zoom is appreciated.
Another new bit is the chipset. The custom-built Tensor G2 comes with a few new CPU cores and a new GPU, and who knows exactly how much of an upgrade under the hood, but it's still being produced on a 5nm process, when competitors are at 4nm.
Physically the handset is the same as last year, but also different. The camera strip on the back is still there and is just as prominent, only it's now part of the aluminum frame and not the separate glass piece it was last year.
And that's more or less what's changed for the Pixel Pro 2022. Here are some important numbers before we go.
Unbox Google Pixel 7 Pro
It's only at this point that our Obsidian review unit is completely spotless, but more on that on the next page.