The Pixel 3 lineup of Android flagships will focus on delivering a wide variety of upgrades meant to improve the overall imaging capabilities of the upcoming devices compared to their 2017 predecessors even as Google is still sticking with a single rear camera, according to some newly emerged information. One of the enhancements will come in the form of hardware with a new Pixel Visual Core chip. While details on the silicon in question remain unclear, the second generation of the module will be used for “more than just HDR+,” 9to5Google reports, quoting a source close to Google. Last year’s Pixel Visual Core was developed in partnership with Intel and handled image processing that would regularly be the responsibility of a phone’s main chip (Snapdragon 835, in that case), thus delivering higher-quality HDR+ images while using less battery.
While recent rumors suggested the second module seen inside the Pixel 3 XL’s display notch that already leaked online on numerous occasions is an infrared sensor, the new report indicates it’s a regular camera mounted behind a wide-angle lens. That particular claim suggests Google isn’t looking to deliver a more accurate method of unlocking a device with biometric techniques but is instead primarily interested in improving the quality of selfies delivered by the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. One or both front-facing cameras found on the upcoming devices use 8.1-megapixel sensors, whereas the rear-mounted module is a 12.2-megapixel affair, according to recent benchmark sightings. Google’s engineers are internally referring to some or all of the aforementioned improvements as “super selfies,” as per the same source.
Google’s commitment to single rear cameras is so great that its marketing department at one point considered boasting about it as part of Pixel phone promotions, delivering ads meant to relay a message that only a single camera is needed for high-quality photography. Regardless, a report from earlier today suggested the company already has some device prototypes with dual-camera setups on the back. Alphabet’s subsidiary still isn’t fully on board with the idea of any kind of dual-camera setups in the long run and will even re-evaluate the frontal two-lens system used by the Pixel 3 line following its launch, based on customer feedback, one insider cited by the same publication claims.
The Pixel 3 line is widely expected to be announced at Google‘s annual hardware event which is likely taking place on October 4 for the third year in a row. A batch of Pixel 3 XL prototypes that were likely manufactured as part of a trial production run has reportedly been stolen from Foxconn earlier this month and explains the massive volume of new leaks that have been surfacing online over the last 24 hours.