Some of the exclusive Pixel 9 AI photo-editing features could be heading to older phones

• Some Pixel 9 exclusive photo-editing tools could be heading to older phones
• The Auto Frame and Reimagine AI tools may roll out more widely
• Handsets from the Pixel 6 onwards are tipped to get the upgrade

The Google Pixel 9 series launched with a stack of AI photo-editing features that were exclusive to those devices – but now it looks like Google is preparing to push some of these features out to older Pixel handsets.

As spotted by @AssembleDebug and Android Authority, the latest version of the Google Photos app for Android features code that suggests both Auto Frame and Reimagine are going to be made available to the Pixel 6 and newer phones.

Auto Frame lets you make sure the primary subject of your photo is well placed within that photo – that might involve cropping the image, or expanding the background using some AI magic. There's also a similar feature on the best Samsung phones.

As for Reimagine, this lets you tweak parts of your photo using a text prompt and AI image generation. You might want to add a car to a street scene, for example, or a tree to a nature landscape – if you can imagine it, Reimagine in Google Photos can do it.

Pixel exclusives

Google hasn't said anything officially yet, so it's not clear when these new features will reach handsets such as the Google Pixel 8 (assuming Google follows through with this) but the rollout shouldn't be far away.

It makes sense that Google would want to make as many of its AI photo-editing features available to as many people as possible, assuming that their phones have the necessary processing power to run them.

While keeping features exclusive to newer handsets can drive sales, it's not clear how many users have been upgrading to the Pixel 9 just to use the AI image features – though we've been largely impressed by what they're capable of.

In less than a month we'll do it all again, when the Google Pixel 10 series gets its grand unveiling on Wednesday, August 20. Expect a lot more talk about the power of AI, and perhaps some features that are only available on the new Pixel 10.

You might also like

• Google AI Mode is getting a bigger AI brain from Gemini
• The Pixel 10 Pro was just teased in a new color
• These 9 Google Photos features will change the way you use it