Hot on the heels of the first profitable Pixel 5 render, we now have a live image and two reports on the specs for Google’s next flagship.
First, we have a report from Android Central, which says that the Pixel 5 has a 6-inch, 90Hz OLED display, a Snapdragon 765G, 8 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of storage. The site could not ignore the battery size, but says it will be “significantly larger” than the Pixel 4.
The second report is a bit sketchy, as it comes from a random Redditor, but the post is supported by some compelling evidence: the first live image of the Pixel 5 and its cheaper companion, the Pixel 4a 5G. The Redditor has since deleted its post, but XDA Developers has the best backup of all information. In addition to complying with previous spec reports from Android Central, Anonymous Redditor claims that the phone has a 4000mAh battery. That would count as “significantly larger” than the Pixel 4’s 2800mAh battery, but that’s only on par with other midrange devices like the OnePlus Nord.
The second camera is apparently a wide angle lens this time, instead of the telephoto lens that was on the Pixel 4. Anonymous Redditor also reports that the back of the phone is plastic, just like the Pixel 4a.
We also get specs on the main camera, which the Redditor claims is a 12MP Sony IMX363. This would not be at all surprising, but it would be disappointing, as this would mark the fourth year in a row that Google has gone with the same camera hardware. That’s right. Since the Pixel 2, Google has been using a Sony IMX363 (as the identical IMX362) sensor as its main camera, and you will find the chip in the Pixel 2, Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, Pixel 4, and Pixel 4a. This is camera hardware from 2016, and sensors with larger pixels and more light sensitivity are available to Google as it can be difficult to use them.
Despite its incredible age, the Pixel camera has managed to keep up with the competition thanks to Google’s software first camera approach, which it calls the “software-defined camera”. Google pioneered image stacking on a smartphone with better and better algorithms, leading to great low light mode. However, any algorithm would be better off with better input, and Google has over the past four years in principle ignored advances in camera hardware, allowing its competitors to close the gap.
The other piece of hardware that you can place in the “upgrade” -with-scare-quotes category is the Pixel 5’s Snapdragon 765G SoC. The Pixel 4 has a Snapdragon 855 SoC, and because Qualcomm chips perform similarly no matter what phone is built around them, we do not need any device-specific benchmarks to know that the Pixel 5 will be slower than the Pixel 4. To give you an idea how much slower, we can choose any Snapdragon 765G phone and do a beta Pixel 4 versus Pixel 5 comparison:
With the Pixel 5, Google is making a transition from a flagship device to a mid-range phone, leading to cumbersome comparisons like this. The other awkward thing is that Google already has got a midrange phone, the recently released Pixel 4a. To make things even more complicated, the Pixel 4a 5G will close between the two phones and is expected to have a Snapdragon 765G, a 3800mAh battery and a 60Hz, 6.2-inch display.
Many sites, including Ars, have said that there is not much reason for the more expensive Pixels to exist as the Pixel 3a and Pixel 4a have been so good. It seems like Google’s response this year is to make the more expensive Pixel cheaper and put even less distance between the flagship Pixel and the “a” line, but now things just look very messy.
Image List by Anonymous Redditor
