Google took to its official Keyword blog earlier today to announce the Pixel 4a and Pixel 5, its newest pair of in-house Android smartphones. Don’t let the former’s name fool you, however, as both are scheduled to hit the market this fall with 5G support on board.
However, unlike the last four generations of the Pixel family, this year’s models miss out on the very best system-on-chip from Qualcomm. Instead of a Snapdragon 800-series SoC, these handsets use the Snapdragon 765G. Except for the LTE-only Pixel 4a that ships with the Snapdragon 730. But if anyone can get away with using hardware just a step below flagship components, that would certainly be Google.
After all, the Pixel series even stuck to a single rear camera for a year longer than any other high-end brand on the market, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that from the images it produced. The Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a follow a similar train of design thought as their hardware should make short work of a vanilla version of Android 11. The 5G version of the Pixel 4a will become available to buy in select markets on October 15th, the same date that the Pixel 5 is planned to debut internationally.
Curiously enough, the U.S. and Canada will have to wait until October 29th for the more expensive device and Google is still keeping quiet about both smartphones’ price tags.