Update - Feb. 24: Another leak of Pixel 7 designs seems to back up the details of this leak. It looks like Google could be making a change to the size of the basic Pixel 7 after all, so we've updated this article to reflect that.
Alleged renders of the Google Pixel 7 have just been leaked. While we wondered if they may have in fact been for the Google Pixel 6a, it seems the new design, including a small size decrease, might be the case.
The images come from David "xLeaks7" Kowalski, and were published by ChooseBest Tech. At first glance, there's a lot of Google Pixel 6 influence to be seen. There's still a camera bar that stretches the full width of the phone about a third of the way down the back, and it contains two cameras. There's also a flat-edged display, an under-screen fingerprint scanner, and a USB-C port just like before.
ChooseBest Tech's annotations of the images claim that there's a punch-hole selfie camera, too. However call us blind but we can't see it in the image below. A possible reason for this is that the Pixel 7 series could actually use under-display selfie cameras, as a recent Google patent hinted.
However, those rear cameras are surrounded by a new oval in these renders. This could be an effectively invisible part of the design on a finalized handset, or it could be a deliberate flourish to draw attention to the lenses that were otherwise lost in the all-black bar on the Pixel 6 series.
There are some other slight changes you can see in these renders. The camera bar now joins up with the side rail, instead of having a seam between the two like the Pixel 6 handsets did. This is a popular Android smartphone design direction since Samsung launched the Galaxy S21 last year, with the new Galaxy S22 and OnePlus 10 Pro both using this style of camera bump too. Looks like Google might be joining them in its own way.
There's also a large stadium-shaped depression on the top edge. ChooseBest Tech suggests this could be a 5G mmWave antenna, similar to the one found on U.S. iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 models. Almost all Pixel 6 Pro models sold in the U.S. (and some Pixel 6 models) came with mmWave compatibility, but don't have this marking.
If you want to get really precise, this supposed Pixel 7 supposedly measures 6.1 x 2.8 x 0.34 inches (155.6 x 73.1 x 8.7mm), which makes for approximately a 6.1-inch display. That makes it smaller in all directions than the 6.2 x 2.9 x 0.35 inches (158.6 x 74.8 x 8.9 mm) Pixel 6 with its 6.4-inch display. We haven't heard specifically if Google intends to shrink down the Pixel 7 compared to the Pixel 6, but that's what these numbers seem to show.
We'll likely see the Pixel 7 launch around October if Google's current pattern holds up. However Google conducted a long teaser campaign for the Pixel 6 that began with a design reveal in August, so perhaps it'll be summer when we see this leaked design confirmed or denied. We'll also finally learn then if the rumors of a "Tensor 2" chipset, or even that under-display camera, are true or not.
If instead, this is a Pixel 6a leak, we may get an answer even sooner than that. Google has revealed the last two Pixel a-Series phones in August, so that's also a month to keep an eye out for confirmation of which phone these renders belong to.
