Google Pixel 6 Leak Confirms Weird New Direction

The Google Pixel 6 represents a whole new direction for the industrial design of the Google Pixel line. It would appear that smartphone that represents the most essential bits of the Android experience from Google does not need to be basic – it does not need to be a clean, standard slate on which Android itself is the only focus. With the leaks we're seeing now, it's clear that the Google Pixel 6 will take the Google smartphone experience out a whole new door.

Imagery shown in the leak from Ice Universe this week shows a Google Pixel 6 with a sort of bar section near its head. This is the "bridge", as we're calling it, that holds the device's camera array. As cameras on smartphones went from single lens to multiple lens, the back-facing camera array went from a circle to an island. Now, with Google Pixel 6, this island spans the length of the smartphone.

The Google Pixel 6 will likely be released in more than one configuration, probably as a Google Pixel 6 and a Google Pixel 6 Pro, or Max, or XL. The case leaked this week shows spaces for a single microphone hole at the top of the phone, power and volume keys to the right, two speaker arrays at the bottom, and a space for a USB-C port.

At the bottom right is likely a case-maker addition – a place where a user can run an attachment loop that could fit around one's wrist, act as a loop for fun dangling toys, etc. The clarity of the case also likely indicates the manufacturer's knowledge of the beauty of the color scheme(s) of the phone – they'll let them shine through.

The Google Pixel 6 device family will likely be released at the same time, in late September or early October of 2021. Cross your fingers we'll see a release without delay – you never know here in the new world, not quite out of a pandemic, in a place where anything could happen!