From the leaks revealed so far, it looks like both the Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are set to be an incremental update from last year’s exciting new look devices. Indeed, leaked devices look so much like the last generation, that one buyer claims to have been unaware he was using a prototype until Google remotely reset it.
Now we’ve got what seems to be our first look real-life look at a brand new Pixel 7 Pro being taken out of its packaging. And for anybody who had the pleasure of unpacking a Pixel 6 Pro 11 months ago, it will seem extremely familiar.
Lol, someone already unboxed a real, retail ready Google Pixel 7 Pro 😅 I'm so looking forward to seeing something other than this black color. https://t.co/Bl8Lnn65yI pic.twitter.com/fIpZ0YBTmiSeptember 3, 2022
As you can see from the video above, upon lifting the lid, you’re immediately greeted with the back of the phone and the now familiar camera visor introduced last year. If anything, Google seems to be leaning into this a bit more in 2022, with a shiny metallic band and more obvious cutouts for the lenses.
Otherwise, as the device is switched on and booted up, it becomes a tricky game of spot the difference, with the front-facing punch-hole camera still sat in the center at the top of the screen and suitably thin bezels. As a previous hands-on with locked prototype devices suggested, it does look like the screen is slightly less curved than on its predecessor, but it really is quite hard to tell for sure in such a short clip.
Said hands-on also suggested that the two Pixel 7 devices will bring in some small size changes over their predecessors, with the regular model apparently getting a tiny bit smaller, and the Pro version getting a bit larger. It’s not the kind of thing you’d notice unless you had the two generations side-by-side, but it suggests Google is trying to make the difference between the two more obvious.
Of course, appearances can only tell you so much, and while what we’ve seen so far points to a steady-as-she-goes update, the biggest change we’re hoping for is a big boost from the second generation of Tensor chip. While the first generation was a very impressive first effort, it did still lag behind the leading mobile chips from Apple and Qualcomm.
Hopefully, Google will be closing the gap this generation, and if it can, then it would be very surprising if the Pixel 7 Pro didn’t appear close to the top of our list of the best phones in just a few months’ time.
Google has promised a fall launch for the Pixel 7 and Pixel Watch, and given the packaging appears all ready to go, it wouldn’t be surprising if we were looking at a matter of weeks rather than months.
