![](https://9to5google.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/08/Pixel-9-Pro-Fold-Obsidian-Porcelain.png?w=1600)
On Tuesday, Google announced that Zoom Enhance will be available on the Pixel 9 Pro series and is rolling out to the Pixel 8 Pro. Ahead of that, here’s a lot more examples and details on how Pixel Zoom Enhance works.
Google’s Peyman Milanfar has a thread detailing how Zoom Enhance works. Notably, we learn that it is the “first (image-to-image) diffusion model designed & optimized to run fully on-device.” From last year’s announcement, we assumed it was a cloud-based feature.
It’s a 1st step in powerful editing tools for consumer images, harnessing on-device diffusion models.
That on-device nature somewhat explains why it’s only available on the high-end Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL, and 9 Pro Fold, but leaving out the regular Pixel 9 — given its capable specs — looks odd.
Like Magic Editor, it works on pictures taken from any device. In fact, the feature lives inside Google Photos. When you go to edit a photo, Zoom Enhance appears in the Tools tab alongside Portrait blur, Unblur, and Magic Eraser.
![](https://i2.wp.com/9to5google.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/08/Pixel-Zoom-Enhance-B-1.jpeg?ssl=1)
![](https://i1.wp.com/9to5google.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/08/Pixel-Zoom-Enhance-B-2.jpeg?ssl=1)
![](https://i1.wp.com/9to5google.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/08/Pixel-Zoom-Enhance-B-3.jpeg?ssl=1)
One great example is of the Mona Lisa. The second shot below shows the 5x optical zoom:
![](https://i2.wp.com/9to5google.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/08/Pixel-Zoom-Enhance-D-1.jpeg?ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/9to5google.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/08/Pixel-Zoom-Enhance-D-2.jpeg?ssl=1)
![](https://i2.wp.com/9to5google.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/08/Pixel-Zoom-Enhance-D-3.jpeg?ssl=1)
Other use cases include enhancing a far away sign/text — Google already releases the latest version of Pixel Magnifier — and changing how you take images now that you have Zoom Enhance:
A particularly good use of Zoom Enhance is revisiting old (20+ years) images that are lacking in resolution, or even upscaling outputs from text-to-image generators.
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