All the focus this week may be on the Pixel 6a and Pixel Buds Pro still open for pre-orders, but the Pixel 7 wants you to remember it’s coming. Thanks to a bit of developer effort, we may know the camera situation of Google’s new phone, as well as the codename of an additional, as-yet-unknown high-end device.
Developer Kuba Wojciechowski made a post thread (via XDA) on Twitter that talks about their dive into code from Google, where Google tried to obfuscate the sensors in their upcoming phones, but left enough information to reveal it. In short, it looks like Google will use a similar setup to the Pixel 6 line, only with a new telephoto lens and matching selfie camera.
Pixel 7 line camera setup
Information from Google Code shows that the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro will use the Samsung GN1 as their primary sensor, as well as the Sony IMX381 for ultra-wide shots. These are the same sensors on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. The new lens will be on the Pixel 7 Pro as the Samsung GM1 telephoto, a change from the Sony IMX586 seen on the Pixel 6 Pro. These sensors seem pretty similar, so we’ll have to wait and see what’s new or what their plans are from one to the next.
Another change will be Samsung’s use of the 3J1, an 11MP front-facing camera for selfies. On the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, we saw different selfie cameras, with the Pixel 6 Pro having a better 11MP shooter. Maybe this matching setup will eventually allow face unlock? haha
You might be disappointed to know that Google is using almost the same camera setup from the Pixel 6 line in the new Pixel 7 line. Try not to be. Google has used the same 12.2MP shooter in the Pixel line for multiple generations of phones and still manages to lead the industry in the camera department. If anything, this could mean additional fine-tuning, plus we don’t know if Google’s Tensor 2 will have additional image processing to further improve the Pixel 6’s already-solid cameras.
Mystery Pixel “Lynx” device
As for the alleged high-end mystery device mentioned above, information found alongside the Pixel 7 camera staff revealed a codename of “Lynx” with a new camera setup. This device has that main GN1 camera, but then it also has Sony IMX787 (telephoto?) and Sony IMX712 (13MP selfie?) cameras. That’s about all the evidence for this “Lynx” device, so the speculation here is that it could be experimental hardware for Google to play with the new camera hardware.
Bonus Pixel tablet camera
And finally, I didn’t talk about this initially, but this developer also found out that the upcoming Pixel tablet will use some kind of dual IMX355 camera setup. This is the selfie camera currently found on the Pixel 6, so it could be that Google is using this sensor for cost-cutting purposes, knowing that tablets aren’t for fancy cameras. Someone tell Apple.
So much to take in.