Zoom Enhance is finally ready a year after Google announced it

Google has announced the Zoom Enhance feature that it first announced at the Google Pixel 8 Pro launch last year is finally ready in time for the three-strong Pixel 9 Pro family.

In amongst all of Google’s Pixel 9-related announcements, it can be all too easy to let some of the smaller software-related points slip by. Perhaps Google was betting on this when it tried to slip Zoom Enhance in as a brand new feature on a recent blog post.

The feature is point eight of a recent Google blog post entitled ‘9 things to know about Pixel 9 cameras’.

“Zoom Enhance intelligently fills in the gaps between pixels and predicts fine details for high-quality, post-capture zoom results,” it explains. “It will be available on Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and is rolling out to Pixel 8 Pro starting today.”

It might sound strange that a lauded new Pixel 9 feature is actually making its debut on the Pixel 8 Pro, but then we’ve already tipped you off to the twist here. The feature was first announced at Made By Google ’23 as a feature for the Pixel 8 Pro. It was supposed to launch in December, shortly after its then brand new phone hit shops, as an early feature drop.

Instead it’s taken Google a year to get this futuristic feature working to its satisfaction. As we pointed out in our summary of the Pixel 9’s new camera features, Zoom Enhance finally brings a very specific sci-fi fantasy to life. Sort of.

You know that bit in Blade Runner where Harrison Ford’s hard-bitten future cop zooms in on a static image, enhancing the detail at every stage? Well, Zoom Enhance doesn’t appear to be that good, but the principle is the same.

“Zoom Enhance intelligently fills in the gaps between pixels and predicts fine details for high-quality, post-capture zoom results,” explains Google.

It will be available on the Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro Fold at launch over the coming weeks, but it’s available on the Pixel 8 Pro right now.