Google’s Pixel 2 is surely going to be one of the most exciting Android phones of the year. We still have a few months to go until Google unveils it, but Pixel leaks are already piling in. Recently, we saw a Pixel 2 benchmark and learned that LG might make the Pixel XL 2 instead of HTC, but a brand new discovery indicates that HTC is working (or at lease was working) on both upcoming Pixel 2 handsets.
Japanese blog Soku discovered what are believed to be traces of the new Pixel 2 phones in a system file within the HTC U11 that launched in Taiwan. Specifically, the blog found a list of smartphones in the code that include S2 and M2 devices. As xda-developers explains, the original Pixel and Pixel XL were known internally at HTC as the S1 and M1, respectively.
The Japanese blog also notes that the HTC U11 code indicates that the S2 and M2 will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 platform and that both listings lack carrier specific entries, which may mean HTC is or was working on unified Pixel models that would support multiple carriers.
This finding seems to reinforce the idea that HTC is making the Pixel 2 phones for Google, just as it made last year’s Pixel and Pixel XL. But because we have no idea how old this code is, it’s not enough to dispute the recent rumor that said the Pixel 2 XL is going to be built by LG. That report claimed that Google ditched the original Pixel 2 XL device, an HTC creation, in favor of an even bigger version crafted by LG.
We won’t know exactly what’s going on for a while yet. In the meantime, enjoy these slick fan-made mockups of a Pixel 2 with a beautiful all-screen design.
