Google Pixel 8: all of the leaks and rumors so far

Continuing the storied tradition of Google’s Pixel devices being some of the most-leaked hardware ever, the as-yet-unannounced Pixel 8 Pro has popped up on a Google Store page. @Android_Setting on Twitter / X pointed out the image on a page promoting Google’s subscriptions and services (Pixel Pass is not among them), showing a man taking a call on a Pixel 8 Pro in Porcelain.

Sure, the device looks like the renders and images that have already leaked, including from a supposed internal Google video, but how can we be sure it’s that phone in that color? In a win for accessibility, the tipster notes that the image’s alt-text description removes all doubt, reading, “A person takes a call on a Pixel 8 Pro phone in Porcelain.”

If you’re a fan of Google’s Pixel lineup and want the best possible camera performance, there’s only been one real choice over the last couple of years: you buy the biggest phone. The Pixel 7 and 7 Pro share the same primary sensor, but the larger device has a superior ultrawide camera (thanks to its wider field of view) and the vaunted telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom. For the upcoming Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, it looks like the company will continue the trend of giving the pricier phone an optical advantage.

Last year, the telephoto lens was the big story, but in 2023, it’s reportedly the ultrawide camera that’s making a substantial leap — but only in one of the two phones, of course.

Google has historically been terrible at maintaining confidentiality and secrecy around its Pixel devices. It’s become a given that we’ll see prototype hardware several months ahead of the company’s annual October hardware event. This has led Google to tease upcoming flagships well in advance. But with the Pixel 7A, Pixel Fold, and Pixel Tablet all taking center stage at last week’s I/O keynote, we didn’t get an early glimpse of the Pixel 8 lineup.

It didn’t take much time for that to change.

The Google Photos app has already hosted AI-powered features for still photos going as far back as the Top Shot and Photobooth features added with the launch of the Pixel 3. More recent devices powered by its Tensor SoC have pushed on-device machine learning tech even further to enable stuff like Face Unblur and the Magic Eraser that wipes out photobombers, but it soon might expand its abilities to videos, too.

The launch of Google’s Pixel 8 lineup could introduce a new Video Unblur tool to sharpen videos, code discovered by 9to5Google suggests. It was found within the latest APK for the Google Photos app that the company most recently uploaded to the Play Store.

Google’s upcoming Pixel 8 Pro may have a redesigned camera bar and a flat display, according to new renders of the unannounced device from OnLeaks and Smartprix. Similar renders have also been published of the non-Pro Pixel 8 by MySmartPrice, also in collaboration with OnLeaks.

The most noticeable change to the Pixel 8 Pro’s camera bar is that all three cameras will be visible in one big oval cutout instead of being partially separated like they are on the Pixel 7 Pro. Per the renders, the 8 Pro’s camera bar will also have a mysterious new sensor under the flash. Smartprix speculates that the sensor could be a macro or depth sensor but says that its “specific function remains unknown.” The Pixel 8’s dual-camera setup, meanwhile, appears similar to that the one seen on the Pixel 7, with no obvious sign of the extra sensor.