With the Pixel 6 range, Google showcased a bold new design for its handsets, but it looks like you won’t have to spend a fortune to get a phone with this design, as the Google Pixel 6a will probably look very similar.
Photos showing an aluminum dummy unit of the Pixel 6a have been shared by leaker xleaks7 and Fathom Bracelets, and they show that big horizontal camera block you’ll find on the Google Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro.
The images also show a dual-lens camera on the rear, a single-lens punch-hole camera on the front, power and volume buttons on the right edge, and a USB-C port and speaker grilles on the bottom.
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The source additionally claims that the Google Pixel 6a will have an in-screen fingerprint scanner, and that it will be quite thick, but there aren’t any spec details here.
As ever, we’d take leaks with a pinch of salt, though the leaker in this case has a reasonable track record. Still, it’s not clear where they sourced this dummy unit from, and these metal models – which are often used by accessory makers and the like – are themselves sometimes just based on leaks and rumors, so there’s no guarantee this one is accurate.
That said, it’s a design that’s leaked before, and so far there aren’t any conflicting reports on how the Pixel 6a might look.
Opinion: a necessary shift
While we don’t yet know for sure whether this is the design of the Google Pixel 6a, we hope that it is, as the likely alternative is that Google will stick with the far blander Pixel 5a design.
Sticking with that design would mark the Pixel 6a out as a cheaper phone than the mainline models, which could make sense, and would be a similar approach to what Apple has done with the iPhone SE (2020), but it would also make the Pixel 6a fade into a sea of similar handsets.
With a design like the Pixel 6’s, it’s sure to stand out from the crowd, and Google could still differentiate it from the rest of the range by selling the 6a in different colors.
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