Google to Dramatically Change its Camera Design with Pixel 6: Report
A new design leak alleges that for the first time in a while, Google is going to dramatically change how its next smartphone will look. The Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro will allegedly sport an all-new design with a very unusual camera array.
Jon Prosser, who is known mainly for his leaks and rumors surrounding Apple products, today released renders of Google’s upcoming Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones that he says are based on actual photos of the device that he was shown.
“I was sent actual images of this device. I had more images for this than for most of my other leaks,” he says. “Like, really high quality, detailed images from the source.”
Prosser is therefore particularly confident in this leak, which shows the two new smartphones from Google sporting a camera array that looks akin to Star Trek’s famous thin-visor-wearing Geordi La Forge.
In order to protect his source, Prosser had designer Renders By Ian (Ian Zelbo) — who was also responsible for Prosser’s MacBook Air leak earlier this week — mock up several images that used the primary source photos as their basis.
The mockups show two different devices with two different camera arrays. The Pixel 6 has a similar design but only two cameras in it’s bar-like module while the Pixel 6 Pro is much larger and has three cameras in its array.
“I guess they’re getting rid of their XL naming that they’ve been using forever,” Prosser says.
The front of the device has what is colloquially referred to as a “hole-punch” selfie camera design. This look helps maximize the amount of screen on the front of the smartphone and avoids the “notch” that is seen on Apple iPhones. Additionally, the bezels around the front display look especially thin, and Prosser’s renders seem to indicate that the phone will use an under-display fingerprint reader like other Android devices on the market.
The design is so unusual that Prosser says that if he did not see actual hands-on photos of the device, he would have been unlikely to believe the report himself.
Unfortunately, Prosser only had images of the device and not a specifications sheet, so he was unable to provide any guesses as to what kind of sensors, cameras, or focal lengths are to be expected in either the Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro.
The orange color that was found on the Pixel 4 looks to be making a return here in the Pixel 6, which Prosser says looks like it is blended with design elements from the Pixel 1 and 2.
Prosser indicates that a major reason why Google seems to be “going for it” so aggressively in this design is that it is anticipated that the company will be releasing them with its own silicon, the GS1010 Whitechapel Chip. Since the inside of the device is set to be so different, Prosser reasons that the company would also want to make sure the outside of the smartphone reflects that difference.
The devices are not expected to release until the fall.
Image credits: Photos courtesy of Jon Prosser — Front Page Tech — and designed by Renders by Ian.
