Our collective journey of discovery around Google’s Pixel 2020 line of phones has been riddled with false starts and false leads. It is no secret that the Pixel line has struggled over the years. Google often stumbled upon basic hardware factors. Sales have failed to ignite the world. Recent reports have even suggested that people at the top were not satisfied with parts of the Pixel 4 before it went on sale.
And so, with 2020 shaping up to be a watershed year for the Pixel brand, it’s surprising to see that Google is apparently pulling out of the high-end flagship space. All major Pixel phones since 2016 have used a Snapdragon 800 series chipset. This year, they will reportedly be using the less powerful (but still 5G capable) Snapdragon 765 series on a single Pixel 5 phone, which will be Small in size, without solid information to corroborate the existence of a Pixel 5 XL.
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Three Pixels Two running a Snapdragon 765. And not XL ?!
Instead, the most reliable leaks point to:
- Pixel 4a: Snapdragon 730, single camera, small size, $ 299-249 depending on who you believe.
- Pixel 4a 5G: Snapdragon 765 series … and that’s all we know.
- Pixel 5: Snapdragon 765 series, small size, at least two cameras, around $ 699.
Google has often gone against the grain of the high-end smartphone industry, to the frustration of jaded tech journalists like yours. However, this is a massive deviation from previous Pixels years that, at first glance, seems a bit absurd.
The high-end segment is dominated by devices with large screens, to the point that any “premium” phone is expected to have at least one large-screen option. Not having one is extremely strange. Are the leaks just wrong? Possible, but there is little credible information to indicate the existence of a Pixel 5 XL.
Regarding the use of a Snapdragon 756 (series) processor, the departure from a top-notch Snapdragon 800 series chipset (and the best price) points to Google trying to compete more on price than in recent years, while It offers a device with the connectivity that the most demanding buyers of 2020 phones expect. It is worth noting that Pixel 5a 5G and Pixel 5 may, in fact, not use the same processor.
The most accurate information we have on the silicon of these devices comes from mentions in the code of the Android open source project, which refers to both devices that use Qualcomm “SM7250” chips. The SM7250 family includes Snapdragon 765, 765G, and 768G, with the latter with clock speeds well ahead of the former. It is possible that the Pixel 4a 5G could use the 765, while the Pixel 5 would benefit from the best CPU and GPU clocks in the 768G.
How to why Google has moved to a flagship space of medium price, Android Police’s David Ruddock claims that anemic Pixel 4 sales have forced Google to sing along with operators with the Pixel 5. Or, in other words, Google had to launch a cheaper “premium” Pixel to keep Verizon on board. That is entirely possible, but if operators had that much influence, I would have assumed that the operator would push for a Pixel 5 XL as well.
The Pixel 4a could arrive in August … but what happens in October?
At least if the (apparently canceled) Pixel 4a XL were pulled out in favor of a similar-sized model with 5G connectivity, that would make a bit of sense. After all, it’s easier to sell to people who want a bigger phone on a device that is also faster and has next-generation network support.
Pixel fortune teller Jon Prosser now says the August 3 release is on the way for the Pixel 4a. (That would be just a month before the expected final release date of Android 11, which the 4th would presumably get on the first day, just a few weeks after being released on … Android 10?) If that happens, it will be fascinating to watch. if Google tilts its hand even further and reveals the 4a 5G this summer, or if the traditional October event Pixel will announce the arrival of the Pixel 5 along with a 5G version of a phone announced a couple of months earlier. A strange turn of events for sure.
But hey, it’s 2020. “Strange” is pretty much the default setting these days.
Other odds and endings for a semi-work weekend:
- Twitter (more or less) was hacked this week. While most of the focus was on the social engineering that allowed the attack, and the money fooled by the attacking supporters, my colleague Andrew Martonik has a different opinion. In theory, someone, somewhere, might have a cache of Elon Musk or Kanye West’s Twitter DMs. Possibly much more valuable than a handful of Bitcoin.
- Stupidly fast smartphone charging will come as soon as this winter – think of a full recharge in as little as 20 minutes. But as Jerry Hildenbrand points out, there is always long-term compensation.
- As a daily Wear OS user, I agree with everything written here. Qualcomm’s unfavorable approach to updating its Snapdragon Wear chip series hasn’t helped, but the Wear OS issues run deeper than occasional slow performance.
- Next week we will see the launch of the OnePlus Nord, a marketing triumph no matter how good the phone turns out to be. Would anyone care so much if it was just a “OnePlus 8 Lite” without all the pomp and ceremony? Naturally, stay tuned for all of our coverage.
That is all for now. Have a good weekend and stay safe.
-Alex
