If this is the Pixel 6, Google is coming out swinging

I upset quite a few people last year when I called out Google’s wishy-washy Pixel strategy. I posed a question: Has Google lost interest in phones?

A recap from last August:

Google is lost when it comes to making Pixel phones. Why do Pixels even exist if they simply can’t compete against pricier premium phones or more affordable mid-range devices? I strongly believe it’s time for Google to either bow out of making its own phones or reboot the Pixel as a budget phone that costs even less or as a device that truly competes head-on with the flagship iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and OnePlus phones in the world.

Now, after stumbling around in the dark, experimenting with bathtub notches and gimmicks like squeezable sides and Soli radar motion gestures, Google appears to have some big things in store for the Pixel 6... and Pixel 6 Pro.

Leak kings Jon Prosser and Max Weinbach have shared Pixel 6 images, rendered from leaked source material they’ve seen, and “confirmed” the all-display design and signature camera array. There’s a somewhat large-ish camera bump, but it’s a very different, very bold horizontal one that doesn’t outright clone the iPhone 12 or Galaxy S21’s larger corner cameras.

I don’t know about you, but I am very into this design and even the alleged colors the Pixel 6 will reportedly come in. There’s something very retro about this new industrial design — assuming these are authentic. Weinbach said in a tweet that “Pixel 6 renders are accurate in design, but color isn't” so don’t fall in love too hard with the colors since they could change. Prosser’s track record has been solid lately; he accurately leaked AirPods Pro, AirTags, and the colored M1 iMacs months before they were officially announced.

Prosser’s video, which you can see below, is light on specs, but rumor has it the Pixel 6 phones will be powered by Google’s first custom silicon, codenamed GS101 “Whitechapel.” Weinbach has teased the specs, too. “Just wait till you guys hear the Pixel 6 specs,” he wrote.

The only specs that we can mine from his video are camera-related: single-hole punch selfie cameras on the front, two cameras on the Pixel 6, and three cameras on the Pixel 6 Pro. The configuration of those cameras hasn’t leaked yet. Hopefully, Google’s got a bag of new software tricks that take AI photography techniques like Night Sight to the next level.

“We’re doing some deeper investments in hardware, which some of it takes two to three years to come together. I’m excited at the terrific roadmap ahead,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said during the company’s Q3 2020 earnings call.

Until more leaks arrive, here are more high-res Pixel 6 and 6 Pro renders — all rendered faithfully — courtesy of Prosser.