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After a long wait, the long-awaited Zoom Enhance feature for the Pixel 8 Pro is set to be introduced today.
Google’s official blog post (h/t The Verge) detailing some of the Pixel 9 series’ camera features briefly mentioned Zoom Enhance. The feature is present at launch on the Pixel 9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL, and 9 Pro Fold, but is rolling out to the Pixel 8 Pro “starting today.”
In case you don’t know, Zoom Enhance was announced for the Pixel 8 Pro almost a year ago during the Made by Google 2023 keynote. It uses AI to improve image quality at higher zoom levels. Google hasn’t described in detail how it works, but offers the following explanation in the blog post on the Pixel 9’s AI features:
Zoom Enhance intelligently fills the gaps between pixels and predicts fine details for high-quality zoom results after shooting.
There was another example of using Zoom Enhance in action, showing a photo that gained a little more detail after activating a switch:
This demo doesn’t show any earth-shattering improvements to the image in focus, but it does add extra detail without making things look too sharp or artificial. It seems that Zoom Enhance is there to enhance an image rather than retouch it.
Google hasn’t explained in detail how Zoom Enhance works in the Camera app, but thanks to a video from MilesAboveTech showing it in action, Zoom Enhance seems to be built into the Google Photos app rather than the Camera UI. Any photos that aren’t faithful can be enhanced by scrolling down to the Tools tab. When available, you can use the Zoom Enhance option to clean up an image using AI.
After a few seconds of processing, you can tap and hold to compare the results with the original, or pinch and zoom to see what Zoom Enhance has done with the images taken with your Pixel 9 or Pixel 8 Pro device.
The latest version of Google Photos v6.95 is now rolling out via the Google Play Store, but this doesn’t seem to result in the Zoom Enhance option appearing on Pixel 8 Pro in our testing. It’s very likely that this is a server-side change, so expect it to roll out widely in the next few days and weeks. We’ve had to wait almost a year, but at least Google is keeping its promise and adding this long-awaited camera feature.
Let us know in the comments section below if you see this option on your Pixel 8 Pro.
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