Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

Google confirms launch date for Pixel 5, new Chromecast, and more

Updated Sep 14th, 2020 12:48PM EDT
Pixel 5 launch date
Image: Google

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

  • Google will hold a virtual, press-only event on September 30th to reveal the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a as well as a new Chromecast and a smart speaker.
  • Google announced the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a in August, but didn’t share any launch details.
  • The new Chromecast is likely the “Sabrina” device we’ve seen in recent leaks.

Google began sending out invites to members of the press on Monday for a September 30th launch event that will be focused on the company’s “new Chromecast, latest smart speaker and new Pixel phones.” The event will occur nearly two months after the announcement of the Pixel 4a in a blog post that also revealed the existence of the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5. Google said that both phones were “coming this fall” at the time, but prices and release dates should be shared during the “Launch Night In” on Wednesday, September 30th at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET.

In the same post, Google confirmed that the Pixel 4a (5G) would cost $499 (compared to $349 for the 4G version of the Pixel 4a), and also announced that both the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 would be available in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia.

As for Chromecast, it seems likely that Google is referring to the device that carries the codename “Sabrina,” which has popped in a variety of leaks over the last several months. From what we know, Sabrina is a significant departure from previous Chromecast devices in several important ways. First of all, it has its own UI, shipping with Android TV software onboard. It will also have a dedicated remote, which might look something like this:

Google-Android-TV-Sabrina-Remote
Leaked images of Google’s Sabrina device in action. Image source: XDA Developers

Google also said a smart speaker will make an appearance at the launch event, and we have to assume that it will be the Nest Smart Speaker that Google actually confirmed after a leak spoiled the surprise earlier this year. We still don’t know much about the speaker, but it looks like we’ll learn all there is to know at the end of the month.

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.