You can bet Google has one or two new phones under construction – maybe the Pixel 5 Pro, maybe the Pixel 5a. Now, new photos have emerged claiming to show the latest device, although you may want to take them with caution.
The three photos appear on SlashLeaks, with one showing the Pixel 5a logo on the device’s screen. Another shows a fingerprint sensor on the display. In both photos, there is no visible cutout for the front camera, suggesting that the device in question has a camera on the display also similar to the ZTE Axon 20 5G.
Forgive our cynicism, but that sounds too good to be true for a midsize phone like the Pixel 5a, which is designed for users on a budget. Previous phones, like the Pixel 3a and Pixel 4a, took some features from Google’s most expensive flagships and incorporated them into a cheaper device.
None of these phones actually introduced new features to the mix. And in-display cameras and sensors would certainly count as new features for Google. The Pixel 5 has a fingerprint reader on the back, while the front of the phone has a visible camera cutout. If Google were to add these features to its phones, the Pixel 6 expected this fall looks like a more likely destination.
Another thing that sets off the alarm when we see these supposed pictures from the Pixel 5a is that they look a lot like the supposed pictures from the Pixel 5 Pro, which also showed a phone with a camera on the display. The veracity of these images is widely questioned.
This is not to say that there are no areas that Google can improve with the Pixel 5a. The Pixel 4a relied on a Snapdragon 730G processor that made it look a little less powerful compared to similarly priced phones like the iPhone SE and OnePlus Nord. The Pixel 4a also didn’t have such impressive battery life, although its cameras are among the best camera phones we’ve tested.
Whatever Google has planned for the Pixel 5a, it will likely appear in the spring, since that’s when Google traditionally seeks to launch its budget model. If that device looks like what is in those pictures, well, then we will apologize for our skepticism.