Fresh snippets of Google Pixel 6 Pro have seemingly been leaked, and may confirm highly anticipated features for the phone's display, cameras and other reworked elements.
The latest details come from an XDA Developers report, citing an anonymous source, who corroborated a lot of the leaks so far and added some more granular information, such as details about the major changes being made compared to last year's Google Pixel 5.
Here's the quick breakdown according to XDA's leaks.
- The leak corroborates many of what we've heard previously about the Pixel 6 Pro. That includes a 5,000 mAh battery, a QHD+ display with a 10-120Hz refresh rate, and reverse wireless charging.
- It's unclear whether the Pixel 6 Pro will have a variable refresh rate or if the display will jump between fixed points (e.g. 10Hz, 30Hz, 60Hz, 120Hz).
- The Pixel 6 Pro's main camera is a 50MP Samsung GN1 sensor with a 12MP Sony IMX386 for the ultrawide and a 48MP Sony IMX586 for the telephoto. The front-facing camera is a 12MP Sony IMX663.
- The Pixel 6 Pro will support ultra wideband (UWB), which could be used for something like AirTags or Galaxy SmartTags. The phone will also feature Wi-Fi 6E support and have an optical in-display fingerprint scanner.
- XDA's source says that the Pixel 6 Pro uses the Samsung Exynos 5123 5G modem, meaning no Qualcomm 5G modem.
- Another XDA leak says that Tensor uses a tri-cluster core design: 2x Cortex-X1 (2.8Ghz), 2x Cortex-A76 (2.25Ghz), and 4x Cortex-A55 (1.8Ghz). The Mali-G78 GPU is clocked at 848Mhz.
- Tensor will support hardware-accelerated AV1 video decoding at up to 4K at 60 fps. This is significant because no Qualcomm chip has supported this feature and Google has had a big push for the royalty-free codec.
- The Pixel 6 will support Qualcomm's aptX and aptX HD Bluetooth audio codecs (with a lot of wireless earbuds and such use). Sony LDAC support is also onboard.
- The Pixel 6 Pro will not support video output.
The original article follows.
The Pixel 6 Pro's 120Hz display is one of its biggest new features, and it seems to be well supported in the phone's software, according to this leak. It's capable of running at the full 120Hz while at the phone's full QHD resolution, and its adaptive feature can scale the rate to as low as 10Hz when needed in order to save battery life. What isn't clear is whether the refresh rate is fully variable or can only jump between a number of fixed refresh rates.
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The cameras on the Pixel 6 Pro have also had more specs revealed by this leak. Apparently the main camera is indeed the 50MP Samsung GN1 sensor that was recently announced, while the ultrawide camera and selfie camera use 12MP sensors and the new 4x telephoto camera gets a 48MP sensor, all manufactured by Sony. The cameras could also feature a new "baby mode" and motion deblur effect, although these are not detailed beyond their names.
The source's details on the Pixel 6 Pro's Tensor chipset have seemingly provided evidence that helps back up recent rumored benchmarks for the Pixel 6 Pro. The chip's frequencies, core configuration and 12GB of RAM found in the Geekbench 5 browser entry all match what XDA Developers was told by its source.
Within the body of the Pixel 6 Pro, the source claims there's ultrawide-band (UWB) support. This is a handy feature for communicating with other devices across short distances, which is why Apple and Samsung use it for the AirTag and SmartTag Plus trackers. There's no Google-built tracker on the way from what we've heard, but UWB could be used by a reportedly built-in car key app on the Pixel 6, which will apparently let you open certain cars from the upcoming Google phone.
There's bad news for long-term Pixel users though: Active Edge won't be returning. This was a feature from the Google Pixel 4 series and earlier Pixel phones that let you summon the Google Assistant by squeezing the phone in your hand. Happily you have the option of assigning the Google Assistant to the new Quick Tap gesture that's available in Android 12.
The XDA report also reveals the Pixel 6 Pro uses a 5G Samsung modem. It's not surprising to see this phone is 5G compatible, given the Pixel 5 last year was Google's first 5G flagship phone.
Other assorted specs mentioned by XDA include a 5,000 mAh battery, which is a big upgrade on the Pixel 5's 4,000 mAh battery, a 128GB storage model, WiFi 6E, and an under-display fingerprint scanner. All of these have been rumored previously, but the battery and fingerprint scanner are particularly interesting.
Google's never had a phone with a battery this large before, nor has it had one with an under-display fingerprint scanner. It will be interesting to see how the company's first attempt at these new technologies works compared to rivals like Samsung and OnePlus, who have been using them for several phone generations already.
Google is expected to reveal the Pixel 6 series next month, in line with its history of October releases for its premium Pixel handsets. With so much rumored to be changing compared to the Pixel 5, it's going to be exciting to test it out and see if Google can finally make it to the top of our best Android phones guide, or even our list of the best phones overall.
