Google Pixel 7 release date, price and spec rumors

Several Reddit users have said they discovered or even bought prototype phones that have since largely stopped working, presumably due to Google identifying the phones and remotely disabling them.

None of the publications reveal much we didn’t already know about phones, but provide an opportunity to look at phones from different angles and in a less polished form than pristine marketing materials.

Displays

The current Pixel 6 and 6 Pro have 6.4-inch AMOLED displays and 6.71-inch LTPO AMOLED displays, respectively. Both support HDR10+, but the Pro version has a 120Hz refresh rate and higher resolution than its more budget brethren.

An OnLeaks report predicts that the 7’s screen size could shrink to 6.2 inches, while the 7 Pro will either stay the same or increase slightly to 6.8 inches. We don’t expect to see too many other display changes.

Show Industry Expert Ross Young says something like: The display of the 7th model has been reduced to 6.3 inches, while the Pro has the same size of 6.7 inches. He adds that the Pro will at least use 120Hz LTPO AMOLED technology again, although he doesn’t specify if we’ll see that trickle before the regular 7.

However, this is unlikely. 9to5Google dug into the code of the Android open source project and found display drivers designed for new Pixel models.

They show that the Pixel 7 will have a 1080 x 2400 display at up to 90Hz, while the Pixel 7 Pro will have a 1440 x 3120 display with a 120Hz refresh rate. These are the same specs as the 6 Series models, and the code even suggests that Google will use the same Samsung panels. So don’t expect any annual changes in displays, except for the 7’s screen getting slightly smaller.

We know that Google is working on an under-display selfie camera design. The company has filed at least two patents so far, the most recent of which we have included here. Discovered by Lets Go Digital, it shows off broadly the same tech we’ve seen on similar cameras like the ZTE Axon 30 5G and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3.

We don’t expect Google to use this technology on the Pixel 7 series, and it’s likely to be seen in rumors about the Pixel Fold or future phones like the Pixel 8 and up.

Second generation Google Tensor chips

One of the main topics of discussion for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro was Google’s use of its own Tensor chips. Like Apple and Samsung, which use their A-series and Exynos chips in their flagships (although Samsung still uses Qualcomm Snapdragon chips in some territories), Google has taken a big step in controlling the design and manufacturing of the processors that power its devices. .

Samsung produced the original Tensor and is reportedly ready for mass production of the Tensor 2 using the 4nm process.

We may not get a major performance hit – or at least not from the processor. Based on the boot logs from the bricked Pixel 7 Pro prototype, the Google News Telegram team was able to extract one key piece of information: The chip uses Cortex-A55 cores.

This is important in several respects. First, these are the same efficiency cores used in the first Tensor chip, so apparently they have not been updated. More importantly, the A55 is based on the Armv8 architecture and not the more recent Armv9 architecture used in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chips. The two architectures cannot coexist on the same chip, so if A55 cores are used, that means that the whole processor is limited by the old architecture. And since Google has mostly used the latest Armv8 cores, that means it can’t update the main Cortex-X1 cores either. Aside from the clock tweak, the only CPU upgrade available to Google is a slight move from two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores to a slightly improved Cortex-A78.

This means that Tensor 2 will likely only feature minor CPU improvements over the first generation, if any. However, Google still leaves room for GPU performance improvements, not to mention machine learning – the company has clearly focused on the first Tensor. As such, we’re still expecting to see a few updates, just that they won’t be about raw compute performance.

9to5Google has discovered the Cloudripper codename, which is related to the model number GS201, which could represent the new silicon. Since then, the same site has revealed additional details with more codenames – Cheetah, Panther and Ravenclaw – associated with a Samsung modem, likely the Exynos Modem 5300, which will presumably be used in conjunction with the new Tensor chip.

9to5Google reports that Cheetah and Panther are referring to the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro with new big cat codenames – after birds and fish were used for previous generations. It is believed that the third codename – Ravenclaw – is more than just a reference to Harry Potter. This is potentially a combination of the Pixel 6 Pro codename “Raven” with the cat’s claw theme of the new hardware, possibly referring to the test device that uses the new Tensor 2 chip inside the Pixel 6 Pro’s hardware.

On the other hand, the 9to5Google report on display drivers mentioned above also A third device has surfaced, and some are starting to speculate that this one – dubbed “G10” in drivers – could actually be the third model of the Pixel 7, perhaps the Pixel 7 Ultra, or more likely next year’s Pixel 7a. The specs of such a phone weren’t leaked and Google didn’t tease it when it introduced the 7 Series.

At the moment, no benchmark has been found for any of these devices, so we do not know how 2^th gen will be compared to its predecessors, but we expect Google to work on performance improvements as well as power efficiency, as with any iteration of processors.

cameras

Both the leak and subsequent official renders confirm the report we saw from Mishaal Rahman on the XDA Developers site that the Pixel 7 only uses dual rear cameras. Code he analyzed for the Google Camera app shortly before the release of the Pixel 6 devices shows that the 2022 Pixel phone is likely to have an ultra-wide camera like the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, but does not indicate the presence of a telephoto lens.

It’s the same as the Pixel 6, with a telephoto lens reserved for the Pro model only, but in 2022 it feels a bit underwhelming compared to many potential rivals.

However, there is good reason to believe that Rahman’s code-dive may not actually apply to the Pixel 7. First, while the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro had separate codenames (Oriole and Raven), this phone is listed with only one (Pipit). This is the name other sources have linked to the rumored Pixel foldable phone and not the 7, so it could be a nod to what phone camera specifications.

What we would like to see in the Google Pixel 7

Since so little is actually known about the Pixel 7, we can take this chance to take our begging bowls to Google and ask for a little more than what we got with the Pixel 6.

One of the major improvements we’d like to see is a downsizing of the Pixel 6. At 207g, it’s a hefty beast, so the weight reduction will make the whole experience more enjoyable for the user.

In our review of the Google Pixel 6, we found battery life to be very good, with the only real downside being the slow 30W charging capabilities, which in fact rarely even reach those speeds. This may be due to the boost to speeds often found in Chinese devices across the board, which can recharge from 0 to 100% in less than 30 minutes.

The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro marked a great interpretation of Google’s pure smartphone, so we’re excited to see what happens when the new versions arrive in 2022. We will update this article as new news becomes available, so be sure to check back regularly. In the meantime, you can read our roundup of the best new phones coming in 2022.