Since past few months, Google has been rumored to be working on a watered-down variant of the Pixel 3 series smartphones. The devices, which first appeared in November last year, are expected to launch soon. As the phone’s launch nears, more details about those smartphones have surfaced online.
Earlier, the smartphones were rumored to be named Pixel 3 Lite and Pixel 3 Lite XL. However, the recent Andriod Q beta referenced the devices with Pixel 3a branding. Now, another report confirms that the upcoming mid-range Pixel series smartphones will be named Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL.
In terms of design, both the upcoming phones will be similar to the Pixel 3 — adopting the two-tone design language. However, we expect the phone to have a polycarbonate back instead of the glass back on the standard devices.
The company is expected to retain the camera setup that we saw on the regular Pixel 3 series phones. The phones will also come with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and will also be the company’s first smartphones in the recent past to come with a headphone jack.
In terms of specifications, the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL will feature a 5.6-inch display and a 6-inch panel respectively. Both will boast 18.5:9 aspect ratios and should have relatively thick bezels. However, the devices will lose the 8 MP wide-angle camera found on the regular Pixel 3 devices with just one selfie snapper.
According to the report, the phone will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 670 and will be paired with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of non-expandable internal storage. On the other hand, the 3a XL will be powered by Snapdragon 710 SoC with the same 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage.
Both the smartphones will ship with Android 9 Pie out-of-the-box and will support eSIM connectivity. As for the availability, the phones are expected to arrive sometime this spring but the announcement at Google I/O in early May seems possible.
