This is already shaping up to be a very exciting year for smartphone fans. Well, it would be more accurate to say that 2019 is shaping up to be an exciting year for Android smartphone fans. Apple’s upcoming new iPhone 11 handsets are pretty much expected to be another round of “S” upgrades at this point. According to reports from the most accurate Apple insider on the planet, Apple’s is sticking to the same notch design it introduced back in 2017 for this year’s new iPhone models. They’ll sport new cameras and some other new features along with performance upgrades, but the look will supposedly be about the same. Meanwhile, Android phone makers have finally decided to stop copying Apple — for now, at least — and come up with some exciting new designs of their own.
Smartphone makers are trying all sorts of new ways to inch closer to all-screen smartphone designs. They’re all stopgap solutions to tide us over while we wait for nifty new tech that allows cameras and other sensors to be hidden out of sight underneath a phone’s display. In the meantime, companies are launching phones with pop-up cameras, slide-out cameras, and hole-punch cameras like the new Galaxy S10 line. It’s that last design Google reportedly ended up choosing for its Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, and now the company’s supposed leaked designs for its Pixel 4 lineup have been mocked up in fantastic new renders.
Last week, a leaked sketch was said to have revealed the design of Google’s upcoming Pixel 4 XL flagship phone. The sketch seemed a bit, well, sketchy… but subsequent reports suggested that it might be accurate. Now, a graphic designer who goes by @PhoneDesigner on Twitter took the ball and ran with it, using that leak and other rumors to mock up Google’s new Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL smartphones. In a word, the look stunning.
#Pixel4 and #Pixel4XL – Part1
(based on current rumors) pic.twitter.com/NuYSGBxQ2v— Jonas Daehnert (@PhoneDesigner) March 15, 2019
#Pixel4 and #Pixel4XL – Part2
(based on current rumors) pic.twitter.com/74Bl4hhctr— Jonas Daehnert (@PhoneDesigner) March 15, 2019
And cleaner picture of the #Pixel4XL pic.twitter.com/Pjs8zouEOO
— Jonas Daehnert (@PhoneDesigner) March 15, 2019
Here’s a closer look at a few of those images:
As you can see, there are two slightly different designs Google is rumored to be using this year. The smaller Pixel 4 is said to have a single-lens rear camera along with a single-lens selfie camera. Meanwhile, the larger Pixel 4 XL is shown with a dual-lens selfie camera, and it’s believed to be Google’s first Pixel phone with a dual-lens rear camera. Both new handsets will reportedly make use of the new “hole-punch” camera design, where round or oblong holes are cut out of the screen to make room for front-facing camera lenses. It takes up less screen real estate than the traditional notch design Apple popularized with the iPhone X, so the results have higher screen-to-body ratios.
Google’s new Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL designs have yet to be confirmed, but Android fans are in for a real treat if these concept renders end up being accurate. Google has historically been way behind the times with its Pixel phone designs, but a Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL that looks like these phones would fit perfectly among other phones that will be released this year. Google isn’t expected to launch its new Pixel 4 lineup until sometime in October, however, so we have quite a while to wait before the phones’ designs are confirmed.
