Photo by OnLeaks and SmartPrix
Google can’t seem to keep its upcoming phones in shade this time around. Following a Pixel 7a leak last week, now renders of the Pixel 8 Pro have surfaced showing the phone with a flat display and a new camera sensor added to the back in the now-established Pixel-style camera visor on the back.
Twitter tipster OnLeaks and SmartPrix have shown off Pixel 8 Pro renders from CAD-based leaks showing a design that bears striking resemblance to the Pixel 7 lineup. However, not everything is the same. For starters, the Pixel 8 Pro seems to have ditched the curved screen, something users didn’t exactly like in addition to what appears to be thinner bezels. The display size remains an unsurprising 6.52 inches.
However, the presence of an extra sensor on the camera visor has taken everyone by surprise. While the phone is tipped to have the same triple-camera system as the Pixel 6 and 7 lineup, there’s an additional sensor below the flash. It’s currently unknown what exactly the purpose of this sensor is, but its positioning suggests it could be a better autofocus system similar to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, or even a LiDAR sensor like the ones seen on the iPhone Pro lineup.
We’ll have to wait for the phone to launch to know exactly what this is, especially considering that in addition to the aforementioned speculations, it could just be a macro or depth sensor as seen on a lot of phones today. This sensor is also missing from the smaller and more basic non-pro Pixel 8. OnLeaks also posted a render of the smaller Pixel on Twitter and it clearly seems to be missing the third camera and the mystery sensor.
The possibility of it being a macro sensor is definitely higher considering how good Google’s portrait mode and overall computational photography are when it comes to providing artificial bokeh in photos. A depth sensor isn’t exactly needed, that too on the latest Pixel phone, but we’ll have to wait and see what Google has done here.
The phone is expected to launch at Google I/O 2023 alongside the regular Pixel 8 and Pixel 7a with the next-generation Tensor G3 SoC, Google’s custom silicon that has been exclusively used in the Pixel lineup. The overall dimensions of the phone come in at 162.6×76.5×8.7mm indicating that it’s going to be slightly smaller than the Pixel 7 Pro.
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