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Renders of the Pixel 6. Get a load of that camera bar.
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On the left is the base model Pixel 6, with two cameras on the back. The “Pixel 6 Pro”, right, has three cameras.
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Here’s a shot of the bottom of the camera bar.
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There is a fingerprint reader on the screen.
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Thin edges!
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The front looks very Samsung-y compared to the Pixel 5.
Ron Amadeo / Samsung / Jon Prosser
The Pixel 6 promises to be a milestone for Google as it is expected to mark the debut of the Google-developed “Whitechapel” system on a chip rather than the Qualcomm chips that the search giant has shipped in all of its previous devices. To go along with the revamped interior, it looks like the exterior is going through some major design changes too — if we’re to believe the latest leak.
Our first look at the Pixel 6 design comes from YouTuber Jon Prosser. Prosser claims he received live, hands-on images of the device, and while he doesn’t share the actual images, he worked with a render artist to render the device based on those images.
Prosser’s track record with Google leaks isn’t the best. Last month he claimed that the Pixel 5a “cancelledBut that claim was publicly shot down by Google. This leak has a bit more credibility as it was also backed by Android Police’s Max Weinbach, although Weinbach says the colors aren’t accurate.
The most notable thing about the design is the back, which now has a large horizontal camera bump that stretches across the phone from edge to edge. It is certainly distinctive. The renders show two formats, which according to Prosser will be called the ‘Pixel 6’ and ‘Pixel 6 Pro’. Previously, Google called the larger phone “XL”, but the Pixel line, which has always been about Apple, had to fit in with Apple’s naming scheme, of course. Prosser doesn’t have exact specs, but the Pro model has three cameras on the back and the base model has two.
Google is reportedly working with Samsung to build the Pixel 6’s Whitechapel SoC, and the Pixel 6’s front might look a little Samsung-y. The Pixel 5 had shallow corners, while the Pixel 6 has sharper screen corners, making it more like a Galaxy Note. The Pixel 5 had a hole punch on the left side, while the Pixel 6, like a modern Samsung phone, puts it in the center. Prosser also said that “the glass bends a bit around the edges,” which would also make it look more like a Samsung phone, since the Pixel 5’s screen was flat. Another change is the addition of an on-screen fingerprint reader; Google has gone before with a capacitive reader on the back.
No one knows the specs of the phone yet, and unlike most flagships, there really is the potential for variance here as the Pixel 5 was a mid-range phone with a Snapdragon 765G SoC. Is this still a mid-range phone? Will Google’s SoC make any noise from a performance standpoint, or is it just a game for more control over the SoC kernel and a longer window for software updates? We still have a lot of unanswered questions about this phone, but luckily for us, Google’s hardware team isn’t very good at keeping secrets.