Friday, June 26, 2020

Pixel 4a: Release date, specs, price and all the latest leaks

pixel 4a leak
Image Credit: TecnoLike Plus/YouTube

As we head into the summer months we’re still eagerly anticipating the launch of the Google Pixel 4a, which, if rumours are to be believed, is shaping up to be a strong update over the already excellent Pixel 3a. But this route to release has been anything but simple. Read on for all the rumours, leaks and everything we know so far about the Pixel 4a. 

At £399, the Google Pixel 3a offered an impressive package at an almost-affordable price. With the 3a, you could get a great display and a decent battery. But it was the camera that really won many over and it remains the best budget camera phone going.

Read on for all of the leaks and rumours we’ve heard about the Pixel 4a so far and a look at when we might actually see it hit shelves.

The Pixel 4a at a glance

  • Release date: Announcement likely coming July, but the phone might not arrive until October
  • Price: Expected to cost between £400 and £500
  • Display: 5.81-inch, 2340 x 1080 screen, 60Hz refresh rate
  • Rear camera: 12-megapixel
  • Selfie: 8-megapixel
  • Battery size: 3080mAh
  • Chipset: Snapdragon 730
  • 5G? Unclear if there will be a 5G model
  • Pixel 4a XL? Unclear if there will be an XL model, although it seems unlikely

Pixel 4a release date – An announcement in July is looking likely

According to Android Police’s David Ruddock, Google is planning a July launch for the 4a, however there are no guarantees the launch won’t be delayed again.

Even if we do see the Pixel 4a announced in July (July 13 is the day that has been suggested) there is now some talk that the phone itself won’t actually be available to buy until October. This comes from the recently very reliable Jon Prosser, and you can see his tweets on the subject below.

It seems like the phone is edging towards release as an unidentified Google phone has just passed through the FCC, this comes by way of XDAdevelopers.

There’s a lot that seems odd about this news. For one, having such a long gap between when a phone is announced and then released is strange and couldn’t do Google any favours. Previous rumours had suggested the devices were ready to be shipped – so why would there be such a wait? The tweet also mentions that the ‘Barely Blue’ colour option has been ditched entirely, meaning the phone will ship in black and nothing else.

This news could also see a delay of the Pixel 5, which would usually be announced in October itself. Maybe Google will end up renaming the Pixel 4a to the Pixel 5a and we’ll see it launch alongside the flagship device? It’s a possibility, however doubtful.

How did we get to this point with the Pixel 4a?

We initially expected Google to launch the Pixel 4a line, alongside the Pixel Buds 2, in May. That’s one year after the Pixel 3a and 3a XL were unveiled at the annual Google I/O 2019 conference and right on schedule for a 12-month refresh.

Unfortunately, Google made the difficult decision to cancel Google I/O 2020 earlier this year in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. While the event was reshuffled to take place online, Google eventually chose not to hold it at all. Because of Covid-19, Google were also reportedly forced to move Pixel 4a and Pixel 5 production from factories in China to Vietnam. Both the production and the event issues likely contributed to a delay in the handset’s launch.

Thankfully, Google has offered an indication that the Pixel 4a is coming since then. The company dropped the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL smartphones from its online store on March 31, meaning that 2018’s Pixel 3 range is no longer available to purchase from the official Google Store, while the Pixel 4 and Pixel 3a remain.

The timing mirrors the 18-month time frame Google kept the Pixel 2 line available for, implying that the company might be making room for a new handset.

Many were also expecting the Pixel 4a to be announced alongside the first public beta for Android 11 however that launch has now come and gone without mention of the 4a. Android 11, in its first public beta form, is now available on newer Pixel phones, including the Pixel 3a, and we expect it to be fully released September or October. You can read about all the new Android 11 features, or learn how to download it to your Pixel phone.

pixel 4a
Image Credit: @evleaks/Twitter

Pixel 4a price – Will it cost more than the Pixel 3a?

As mentioned above, we loved the Pixel 3a, and it was a runaway success for Google too. It launched with an RRP of £399, with the Pixel 3a XL costing £469 − roughly half as much as the Pixel 3 (£739) and Pixel 3 XL (£869), which didn’t sell particularly well.

In its Q2 2019 earnings call on July 25, just three months after the launch of the Pixel 3a range, Google revealed that the 3a and 3a XL had already more than doubled sales of its handsets year-on-year. Doubled. In just three months.

And there could be a lot riding on the Pixel 4a too. The Google Pixel 4 and Google Pixel 4 XL, to put it bluntly, were enormously disappointing additions to the Pixel line, and comments made during Alphabet’s Q4 2019 earnings call suggested that the Pixel 4 range might be even less popular than the Pixel 3 range was.

All of which could mean that when the Pixel 4a arrives, it might be under pressure to rescue the Pixel brand all over again.

The Pixel 3a is still one of the best mid-range phones on the market right now, and the reliable tipster Evan Blass appears to have got his hands on materials that confirm the Pixel 4a will start at $399. He tweeted the mockup images above that claim the 4a will cost the same amount as the 3a. While those aren’t real billboards, we’re hoping that price details are legitimate.

According to 9to5Google though, the Pixel 4a will start at $349 (128GB) in the US, which would be $50 cheaper than the base price of the Pixel 3a, with twice as much storage. It’s also possible there’ll be a 64GB version of the Pixel 4a, but doesn’t appear as if any of the 4a models will be expandable via microSD.

The aforementioned early listings by French retailers also give us an idea as to how much the 4a might cost. eStock.Fr listed the handset at €441.65, while Ordimedia appeared to be asking for €573.01 (with the 20% sales tax). That would leave the 4a priced at between £399 and £518 for 128GB − so about in line with what has been rumoured.

pixel 4a xl render
Image Credit: Pigtou

The existence of a Pixel 4a XL is, for the first time, in doubt. It has reportedly been cancelled, with the renders above claiming to show what the handset would have looked like.

We’re not entirely convinced, however.

Related: The Pixel 4a can beat the new iPhone SE 2

Pixel 4a camera – Will this be the best camera at its price?

The best thing about the Pixel 3a is that it uses pretty much the same camera setup as the flagship Pixel 3. However, this won’t be the case this time around.

Multiple leaks have shown that the Pixel 4a will have a single rear camera, rather than adopting the multi-sensor setup seen on the Pixel 4.

But don’t be too disheartened. That more modest camera configuration could still be capable of smoking most of the competition. After all, much of what makes Google’s cameras so impressive is on the processing, rather than the actual hardware.

That TechnoLike Plus video embedded on this page shows a large plastic camera bump that only contains a single 12-megapixel lens and flash combo. But the site has high praise for it.

9to5Google agrees, but adds that the selfie camera is an 8-megapixel sensor, and that video recording specs are the same as what the Pixel 4 offers (1080p@30fps, 60fps and 120fps; 720p@240fps; and 4K@ 30fps for the rear camera; and 1080p@30fps for the selfie camera.

XDA Developers discovered code in the Google Camera 7.3 update that mentions “pixel_20_mid_range” and suggests the Pixel 4a will give users the option to shoot video at 24fps − which is the traditional standard for films and TV shows.

Pixel 4a specs and features – What chipset will be inside?

Incredibly, the 4a was apparently already available for purchase in a Cuban store way back March. That apparently allowed Spanish language blog TechnoLike Plus to post a hands-on video review that claims to reveal all of the Pixel 4a’s key specs and features.

The top-line information is that a Snapdragon 730 processor will be doing the heavy lifting, combined with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage that unfortunately cannot be boosted by an external microSD card. The site gets the info by running a benchmarking test, which also reveals a 3080mAh battery.

You may have heard that Google is reportedly working on its own processors for use in Pixel smartphones, but this isn’t likely to happen until next year. The chip is apparently code-named Whitechapel and has been built in collaboration with Samsung, which makes its own Exynos processors for Galaxy phones and is involved with Apple’s A-series chips too.

Courtesy of the video, we’ve also got all of the information we need about the display. The site says it’s a 5.81-inch, 2340 x 1080 panel, with a 60Hz refresh rate, and a pixel density of 443ppi.

These specs have also been corroborated by a 9to5Google report published in April (and others since), which adds that there will be a 128GB version of the phone too.

In early May, Rick Osterloh, the head of Google’s hardware division, sent out the apparently perfectly straightforward tweet embedded above.

Closer examination of the screenshot, however, drops a hint over which smartphone he was using at the time. There’s a space to the left of the clock, which would suggest a punch hole display. Which Pixel phone is widely tipped to be the first to rock a punch hole display? Why, it’s the Pixel 4a, of course!

Yes, that’s the same Rick Osterloh who criticised the Pixel 4’s battery before its launch. “At a hardware team all-hands meeting in the fall, ahead of the October launch in New York, Osterloh informed staff about his own misgivings,” The Information has reported. “He told them he did not agree with some of the decisions made about the phone, according to two people who were present at the meeting. In particular, he was disappointed in its battery power.”

Unfortunately, Google either chose not to, or didn’t have enough time to, do something about it. Hopefully he’s enjoying the Pixel 4a a little more.

TechnoLike Plus’ video also shows a USB-C port, a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and the retention of the headphone jack on top of the device, just like the Pixel 3a.

pixel 4a leak
Image: Slashleaks

In January, XDA Developers uncovered a trio of codenames in Android Open Source Project: Sunfish, Redfin and Bramble. These are thought to refer to different models in the Pixel 4a series, and they were listed alongside with the SoC platforms they’re based on.

Sunfish, it appears, will run the mid-range Snapdragon 730, while Redfin and Bramble will reportedly use the the Snapdragon 765, Qualcomm’s first mid-range processor with an integrated 5G modem.

This has caused some confusion, with some taking that as a hint that there could be 4G and 5G versions of the Pixel 4a, and others believing that Redfin and Bramble actually refer to the Pixel 5. If this was the case, the Pixel 5 would have a comparable level of performance to the Pixel 4a.

pixel 4a leak
Image: Slashleaks

In March, two purported real-life pictures of a Pixel 4a handset were published on Slashleaks.

They tally up very neatly with all of the rumours above, and a series of renders created by a digital artist known as Concept Creator, for Dutch tech site LetsGoDigital. Those, however, are essentially rumours in picture form.

There’s a video too, which shows what the handset could look like in different colours, including black, white, orange, purple and blue. We’ve embedded it right at the bottom of this page.

Visible in some reports is a single rear camera, albeit one housed in a raised square section like its siblings (more on this in the following section).

The single camera on the front, meanwhile, is now a hole-punch style snapper tucked away in the top left-hand corner of the screen, disposing of the forehead bezel that was present on the 4.

Related: Best camera phones

Google pixel 4a
Image Credit: @OnLeaks/91Mobiles

According to XDA Developers, the Pixel 4a could use UFS 2.1 flash storage, which should allow for better power efficiency, faster file transfers, and speedier app loading and installation speeds, in comparison to the Pixel 3a. It seems like this phone will be missing the Soli radar from the Pixel 4 too, though that’s hardly something to get too upset about.

Phone case maker ESR recently released a case listing for the Pixel 4a with a render that showed the smartphone on a wireless charging pad. Take this leak with a grain of salt, however, as wireless charging is usually one of the first features to go on budget versions of Android handsets.

The post Pixel 4a: Release date, specs, price and all the latest leaks appeared first on Trusted Reviews.



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