Google has just discontinued production of the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, which was a pretty good indication that a Pixel 5 is near at hand. It now appears that Google itself may have leaked the date when Pixel fans will have a new higher-end option to purchase.
As part of the recent announcement of the Pixel 4a, Google France's official blog post originally indicated that the "Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 will be available for pre-order from October 8. " That apparently wasn't supposed to make the final cut as it has since been removed (via Android Authority).
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While the reference to these two devices coming in the next few months was deliberate and remains in the blog post, the specific date was not. It's possible that te the date is still up in the air, although given that this is almost certainly a virtual event, there shouldn't be any issues with venue scheduling.
Google typically puts devices up for pre-order immediately following its events, so expect the company to be "on stage" on October 8 to unveil these devices.
The only information that Google offered regarding the two devices is that they will both support 5G and that the Pixel 4a 5G will start at $499, so let's take a quick look at some of the rumors regarding these forthcoming additions to the Pixel lineup.
Google Pixel 5
The Google Pixel 5 seems destined to be a polarizing smartphone. According to numerous credible sources, it will use a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G chipset rather than the high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 or 865+ found in virtually every flagship Android smartphone this year. This is the faster gaming optimized version of the Snapdragon 765, but still not on the same tier as either Snapdragon 865 variant.
As previously mentioned, it will support 5G and for many users, there is no doubt that the Snapdragon 765G will be sufficient to handle all of their daily tasks and even gaming to a reasonable degree. But it will signal a clear move to the mid-range for Google. The upside of this move is that the phone should come in well below the pricing of the most recent Pixels with one Reddit user sharing a survey that reportedly came from Google implying a starting price of $699 for the next "Premium Google Pixel Phone."
The survey also indicates that this phone will include a "best in class camera, wireless charging and water resistance." The camera experience will certainly be a big question for the Pixel 5 as this has been a hallmark of the Pixel line, while one early CAD rendering suggested that it would use a triple camera array rather than the dual-camera setup on the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL ,this seems unlikely for a more budget-focused Pixel.
Google Pixel 4a 5G
The Google Pixel 4a was only just recently released but our sister site Tom's Guide calling it "Shockingly good for $349" and specifically praising the camera and the bright OLED display.
While there are certain to be some other enhancements (battery size comes to mind), chances are the Pixel 4a 5G is going to largely mirror the Pixel 4a with the bump up to $499 mostly being attributed to the 5G modem, although it's possible it would use the base level Snapdragon 765 chipset for a power boost that also delivers 5G.
Google found some of the greatest success it has had in the smartphone market last year with the affordable Pixel 3a, so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that the company is turning in that direction. We'll have to see whether Google's much-vaunted software can really still deliver a flagship experience on mid-range hardware.
