Pixel 7 Series: What We Know About Google’s Next-Gen Phones

The launch of Google’s Pixel 7 lineup is just around the corner, but the company has pretty much revealed it all, at least visually, ahead of its event next week. Google has already unveiled designs of its next-gen flagship phone series as well as the Pixel Watch (it has a round face). But at the Made By Google event in New York on Thursday, the company plans to reveal more about what’s inside those devices. We’re likely to see the new Tensor processor for its phones, among other things.

Google first announced the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro at its annual developer conference in May, giving us an idea of what to expect from the company’s upcoming flagship lineup. Thanks to the announcements made at Google I/O, we know both devices will launch in the fall with a new version of Google’s Tensor processor, Android 13 and a more refined version of the Pixel 6’s general design. 

Read more: The best Android phones to buy in 2022

That said, there are still a bunch of things we don’t know. And that’s where the rumor mill comes in — to help us fill in the missing pieces (at least some of them) till the official event on Oct. 6. We’d suggest bookmarking this page since we’ll update it whenever we get a whiff of any credible rumors. 

Release date: Pixel 7 will likely launch in October (confirmed)

Google’s flagship handsets have launched in October for years, ever since the first-gen Pixel was unveiled to the world. (Well, all of them except for the Pixel 5, which was unveiled at the end of September.)  And this year is no different: Google’s announcement of its Oct. 6 event was accompanied by a video showing the Pixel 7 series, which makes it clear the phone will be the main focus of the event. Google also said pre-orders will start on Thursday next week.

Processor: Pixel 7 set to run on second-gen Tensor chip (confirmed)

Google’s in-house silicon, known as the Tensor chip, made its debut in the Pixel 6 series. And Google will continue to pack its phones with its own chips with the upcoming Pixel 7 lineup. It’s set to receive a second-gen Tensor chipset, the company said in May. This announcement isn’t surprising: Google took on the costly and complex task of developing an in-house chipset, so why not use that chipset in its phones?

Some of the enhancements from the chip are evident in the Pixel 6’s camera system, which has new features that aren’t available on previous Pixel devices. These include Magic Eraser for deleting unwanted objects in photos and Real Tone, which portrays skin tones more accurately. Although we don’t know much about the second-gen Tensor chip yet, we can likely expect similar machine learning-based improvements. 

Design: Pixel 7 changes bar and camera cutouts (confirmed)

Last year’s Pixel 6 shook up the design that the last five generations of Pixel phones otherwise held onto. After that design overhaul, Google is simply making refinements to its now signature aesthetic. Remember the black camera bar that runs across the width of the chassis? This year, the bar will be made of recycled aluminum and flows into the device’s side rails, making the camera cutouts more visible. (The Pixel 6 series had a bold black bar that abruptly stopped at the edges).

Design: Pixel 7 to feature a punch-hole front camera (confirmed)

Images shared by Google in May show Pixel 7 will have a pill-shaped camera notch while the Pixel 7 Pro will feature a punch-hole cut out and a pill-box cut out that together form a sort of sideways exclamation point, housing three cameras. The Pixel 7 has virtually the same design as its larger sibling, apart from size and the presence of an extra rear camera in the 7 Pro. 

Cameras: Pixel 7 Pro will feature three rear cameras, the Pixel 7 will have two (confirmed)

Google renders show the Pixel 7 Pro will also have a triple rear camera system, like the 6 Pro, while the base Pixel 7 seems to have two rear cameras, like the standard Pixel 6. As far as the cameras go, we don’t have confirmation of much more beyond that, but the pictures seem to show that Google will stick to the configurations of standard wide, ultrawide and telephoto for the Pixel 7 Pro.

Price: Pixel 7 series pricing won’t change (unconfirmed)

Rumors regarding the Pixel 7 price are starting to surface. One that sticks out is from Android Police founder Artem Russakovksii, who says the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro will cost $599 and $899, respectively — the same prices as last year’s models. Russakovksii shared this information in a post on Twitter last week, citing what he says is a trusted source. If this pans out, Google will have joined both Apple and Samsung in not raising the starting price of their new phones.