Google Pixel 6 is all about the widgets in latest ad about the upcoming phone

Screenshot from Japanese Google Pixel 6 ad featuring a woman and floating donuts.
(Image credit: Google Japan | YouTube)

Google is taking a very unconventional approach in the lead up to its Google Pixel 6 launch, expected for later this month. Instead of revealing the phone first, and then flooding the airwaves with commercials and advertisements, the search giant is opting to hype up the Pixel 6 with a marketing blitz now before a proper press conference. 

And it seems that Google Japan has uploaded a new ad for the Pixel 6, showing off an array of widgets and colorful pastel themes. 

The ad, embedded below, showcases music widgets in various styles. This includes transparent ones that have the album art along with play and pause buttons and more simple trackwheel-types, with the title and some basic playback controls. 

The widgets are also in different and fun shapes. A clock widget forgoes the basic circular design for a wavy circular pattern instead while a weather widget comes in the form of an oval off at an angle. A contact widget shows the person's face when they're calling or may have called recently. 

It's not surprising that the ad should focus on widgets. That's part of the forthcoming Android 12 update, and it's a cinch that the new mobile software will debut on the Pixel 6.

The ad itself highlights how smartphones, like the people who use them, should be customized and tailored to their lifestyles, whether they be an artist or food influencer. 

Of course, Google wants to show off its new Tensor chip, a custom processor made in collaboration with Samsung that's already been confirmed for the Pixel 6. The tensor chip, which is looking to be a game changer, uses enhanced AI and machine learning for better computational photography. What this means is that the Google Pixel 6 will be able to quickly analyze photos and enhance them for the best possible result. And considering the Pixel 6 is rumored to have a 50MP Samsung GN1 sensor, there's a lot of pixels to analyze on the fly. 

Google Japan also uploaded a more confusing ad two weeks ago featuring a Google branded bag of chips that a lady was using as her personal cell phone. 

While a bevy of information and photos are floating around the net, there's still no exact release date or price for the Google Pixel 6. Right now, the latest rumors suggest the Pixel 6 will launch on Oct. 19, hitting stores Oct. 27 with a starting price of $749. If true, not only will the Pixel 6 be in our hands shortly, it won't be absurdly expensive either for a flagship. 

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Imad Khan

Imad is currently Senior Google and Internet Culture reporter for CNET, but until recently was News Editor at Tom's Guide. Hailing from Texas, Imad started his journalism career in 2013 and has amassed bylines with the New York Times, the Washington Post, ESPN, Wired and Men's Health Magazine, among others. Outside of work, you can find him sitting blankly in front of a Word document trying desperately to write the first pages of a new book.

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