We’ve seen the other big players in the tech world launch their smartphones already this year and in just under two weeks it will be Google’s turn with the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. After what was a stopgap year with the Pixel 5 last year Google are looking to hit back with some great new tech and their usual innovative software enhancements.

This evening renowned leaker, Evan Blass, has leaked a large trove of promotional images revealing details of the Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro.

Hardware

The big ticket item here is the camera. For a long time Google Pixel smartphones have had not the greatest specs but even with this were considered one of the best smartphone cameras in the world. The new Pixel 6 Pro camera is now confirmed to house a 50MP main wide-angle lens, a 12MP ultrawide lens and a 48MP telephoto lens — 4 x optical zoom is rumoured to be supported by this last lens.

The phone will once again be waterproof, although the exact rating is not known at this stage — expect it to survive a fall into the bath or toilet though but don’t hold me to that. We can see two of the images show the phone with water on them so it’s a fair assumption to infer some form of waterproof rating.

Two of the images show a new Pixel Stand — their wireless charging solution. There is no hint at what speed it charges the phone at (they are chasing OPPO’s 45W AirVOOC) but it does show what appears to be a new charging interface. The new interface displays the current media playing along with the smart controls usually shown on the Android 11 Power menu. The interesting part of this new interface is that currently you can only use lights on the Power Controls on the Power Menu but the leaked images show heating and cooling thermostats as well. Hopefully that means other options as well, including door locks and blinds.

Software

The many home screen images show the new Live Space widget which shows upcoming appointments, flights etc that are scraped from various apps. We can see a flight listed there along with the barcode to get you onto said flight.

There seems to also be a focus on security with the Pixel 6 with two images showing the new Pixel Security Hub and is mostly a place to view all the security settings for your phone. It does show a more prominent facial recognition location in the Security Hub and given that Google has been testing face unlock using the RGB selfie camera on the Pixel 6 it will not surprise us if they introduce a new secure unlocking method (remember all the extra cameras the Pixel 4 had to do this?).

Expect some new camera features from Google as well with at least one of the screen shots showing the dialogue in the notification shade “Learn what’s new with the Pixel Camera”. With what appears to be finally decent hardware in their camera system it will be interesting to see what they can do with it — given what they’ve done with average lenses in the past.

With just under two weeks until the launch of Google’s 2021 flagship smartphone so we expect that this will not be the last leak of it. We have seen pricing which, if used as a direct conversion to Aussie dollars translate to around $1,050 for the Pixel 6 and $1,450 for the Pixel 6 Pro. If that is the cost of them it will place them below the cost of their direct competitors.

Keep an eye out for more information as it arrives and the big launch on the morning of October 20 — add it to your calendar and head on over to EFTM first thing in the morning to see all the latest details