Google Pixel 7 will have a disappointing lack of camera upgrades, leak suggests
The same sensors as on the Pixel 6
While Google has teased some aspects of the Pixel 7 we're left guessing on other fronts - or, more accurately, letting leakers fill in the gaps. However, according to one leak, the Pixel 6 provides all we need to know.
This comes from leaker and developer Kuba Wojciechowski, who wrote a Twitter thread on a deep, deep dive they took into Pixel software to uncover the names of the sensors that the Pixel 7 phones will use.
📸 I have obtained info about camera hardware configurations on several upcoming Google Pixel devices. While this isn't as important as Google's software - obviously - it still reveals some interesting changes. Thread 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/sPCcT6WjPaJuly 25, 2022
To skip to the end of their adventure, it sounds like the Google Pixel 7 phones will use the same sensors - at least for the main and ultra-wide cameras - as their Pixel 6 predecessors. That means a 50MP main and 12MP ultra-wide.
The Pixel 7 Pro will also use the selfie sensor that the Pixel 6 Pro had, at 11MP, but it sounds like the Pixel 7 will get this too, instead of using a lower-res one.
Apparently the Pixel 6 Pro's telephoto camera will get a sensor change, though it's switching from one 48MP sensor to another, so it won't exactly be a massive upgrade. Wojciechowski speculates that this move is to ensure all the sensors are made by the same company, which is Samsung.
So that's a surprising lack of changes in the new series of phones, and while Google could be preparing some software features (think Magic Eraser), it's possible that cameras just aren't the focus of the next-gen phones.
More camera specs too
Wojciechowski didn't just provide information on the two Pixel 7 phones, but on the Google Pixel Tablet and Google Pixel Fold.
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The latter, a rumored foldable phone that's likely at least a year out, will apparently get a 50MP main camera joined by two 12MP sensors and an 8MP one - due to the folding nature of the device multiple of those could be front-facing ones for the multiple displays it could have.
Finally, the tablet, which Google confirmed is coming in 2023, will apparently get two 8MP cameras, one on the front and one on the back - that adds to the idea that this won't be a top-end tablet, and will instead be affordable. It seems Google is aiming to hit our ranking of the best cheap tablets.
Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.
He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist.