February 17, 2020

Google Pixel 5 XL prototype leaked, but we really hope it’s fake

By Tech Online Things

We’re not expecting the Google Pixel 5 range to land until October – that’s around 8 months away at the time of writing, yet a high-quality image of the possible Pixel 5 XL design has already leaked.

Shared by Jon Prosser on his Front Page Tech YouTube show, the image is apparently one of three prototypes, so even assuming it is genuine there’s a very high chance this design won’t be used, and we hope it isn’t.

It has a large camera block in the top center of the back, which looks a whole lot like a face and generally seems unnecessarily big. That’s our main issue with the design.

Otherwise it looks fairly standard, with a plain back, and a contrasting power button, like the Google Pixel 4. The texture on the rear is apparently also similar to previous models, and is described as a “soft, matte glass back”.

You can see that the camera is triple-lens, and apparently the bottom lens is a wide-angle one – which is something previous models lacked. We’d assume the other two lenses are the standard/main and a telephoto ones.

The front of the phone isn’t shown, because apparently this is less finalized, but is currently said to be similar to the Pixel 4 range, just with a slightly smaller bezel at the top, which would be another disappointment – we don’t want any bezel at all.

As for the other two prototypes, they sound closer to the Google Pixel 4 range, with a more conventional square camera block on the rear.

As ever we’d take all of this with a pinch of salt, but Prosser claims that his source is “extremely reliable” and that he’s 99.9% sure the image shown is of a Pixel 5 XL prototype.

Apparently Google will be deciding which design to go with in the next couple of months, so if you hate this one – or love it for that matter – it could be worth posting about it, because Google might be listening.

Via OnLeaks