- The Pixel 4a had been expected to launch in May during Google’s I/O 2020 conference, as was the case with the Pixel 3a last year, but I/O has been canceled over coronavirus fears.
- Google’s internal billboard layouts just leaked and confirmed some important details.
- The ad mockups confirm the phone’s exciting new design, as well as the starting price for Google’s upcoming affordable Pixel 4 phone.
- Visit BGR’s homepage for more stories.
We often tell you that Google isn’t doing a great job keeping its Pixel devices secret, and it turns out that Google might not always care that much about secrets. All the Pixel phones to date leaked in full before Google’s official announcements, with the Pixel 3 and Pixel 4 series being the worst when it comes to spoilers. If you thought things might change this year, you’re not going to like this leak either, as Google just accidentally confirmed the Pixel 4a’s rumored design and revealed its price well before the smartphone’s expected release.
The Pixel 4a’s design leaked a few months ago when renders revealed that Google was considering a much better design for the upcoming mid-range handset. The phone was rumored to have a hole-punch all-screen display, similar to what Samsung and others have done with their own hole-punch handsets. The phone would still feature a larger bottom bezel, but it would ditch the top bezel that makes the Pixel 4 so ugly compared to any other 2019 phone. The Pixel 4 comes with radar-enhanced 3D face recognition support, and that’s why it needs a full top bezel for all those components. The Pixel 4a won’t have any of that, at least according to the render that leaked.
Fast-forward to a few days ago, and we have now started seeing actual photos of real Pixel 4a prototypes leak, and even a hands-on video preview of the handset. And guess what? The real Pixel 4a looks precisely like the renders.
Google will likely unveil the Pixel 4a in May, during its virtual I/O 2020 keynote, and the phone should hit stores soon after that. But Google has apparently already given the go-ahead to an advertising campaign for the Pixel 4a and sent out mockups to partners, because internal mockups of Google’s Pixel 4a billboard layouts just leaked.
Well-known leaker Evan Blass posted on Twitter a series of images that show the new Pixel 4a ads. The images confirm the front and rear design of the Pixel 4a, and we’re indeed looking at a hole-punch display on the front. On the back, there’s a single-lens camera on placed in a square camera module as well as a fingerprint sensor.
The billboards also reveal the actual price of the Pixel 4a. It starts at $399, the ad says, which is probably what you’ll pay for the 64GB version. That’s exactly in line with what we expect Apple’s iPhone 9 to cost, unless the phone was really canceled like a recent report said. The language on Google’s billboard suggests that a 128GB version will also be available in stores, or that a Pixel 4a XL will launch alongside the Pixel 4a. Previous rumors said there’s not going to be an XL version of this year’s affordable Pixel phone, though.
