Each year the Pixel smartphone from Google tends to leak far in advance of the official reveal. This year we’ve already learned plenty about it, including how it will look, before Google has even officially revealed when it will be announced.
Now, in a strange twist, Google has taken to its blog to confirm most of what we already knew in what seems to be an effort to set our expectations for the Pixel 6.
As for the specs, not much was disclosed in the Google blog post, but The Verge was able to shed some light on a couple of bits of information from its visit to the Google campus last week.
Without further adieu, there will be two Pixel smartphone models. The Pixel 6 Pro will feature a 6.7-inch QHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate and three cameras on the back. Housed in the massive camera bump will be a new wide-angle main shooter, an ultra-wide camera, and a 4X optical zoom lens.
As for the Pixel 6 smartphone, it will feature a 6.4-inch FHD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate and only two cameras, the new wide-angle shooter and the ultra-wide camera.
Next, both Pixel 6 phones will use Google’s custom-made Tensor system on chip to power them. That was the main focus of Google’s post today, however, it failed to mention clock speeds, cores, technical details, or benchmarks. Instead, Google chose to focus on its favorite buzz words, “artificial intelligence” and “machine learning.”
One can assume from the lack of technical details that the Tensor SoC will most likely not wow us with clock speeds or cores, but will instead look rather bland on paper. It almost seems as if Google is priming us for this and keeping all of this info close to the vest until the official reveal. It is there we’re likely to see real-world examples of how the speed of the chip doesn’t matter, and how artificial intelligence and machine learning have made it more efficient than just throwing raw power at everything.
The article from The Verge goes into some detail about examples it was shown at Google’s campus, where the TPU chip was able to snap clearer photos of a moving toddler, or how it was able to take a better-exposed video of a setting sun with more natural colors than the iPhone 12 Pro Max.
These are areas where Google’s AI and ML have always excelled and a large part as to why the Pixel smartphones always have such impressive photography skills. Although, the video side has always needed some work and it looks like the Pixel 6 may be the phone to finally correct that.
Along with the Tensor teaser, Google also shared some official images of the new Pixel 6 smartphones. As you can see, the massive camera bump is present and a clear focus of the phone. However, on the smaller Pixel 6, Google has gone for a more fun two-tone look with a fun stripe of color at the top, while the larger Pixel 6 is rather monotone in comparison.
Beyond this, all the other info is up in the air. We don’t know the amount of RAM or storage options, battery capacity, megapixel count of the cameras, or most importantly the price.
We could be in a surprise when it comes to pricing though, as Google’s hardware chief Rick Osterloh mentioned to The Verge that, “it will certainly be a premium-priced product.”
Looks like we’ll have to wait for more leaks or until this fall to find out more about Google’s first smartphone to feature its own silicon.
