Forget glass, forget metal — Google could be going high-end with future Pixel materials - Android Police

It's no secret Google has a ton of hardware products coming down the line — and I'm not talking about the ones it's willing to discuss on record. Sure, the Pixel 7 series, the Pixel Watch, and a new Pixel tablet planned for next year might be enough to get you excited, but really, it's the unannounced gadgets that have us excited. A new leak shines some light on two upcoming devices from Google, including a long-awaited, long-delayed device that could be on its way next year.

According to leaker Digital Chat Station on Weibo, Google is currently planning to partner with Foxconn on two future flagship phones, switching manufacturing away from Vietnam and back to China for both devices (via 9to5Google). The first device should be familiar to anyone following Pixel rumors closely. Google's first foldable is reportedly one of the two products for this partnership, though it's unclear when production might start. There's nothing new in today's leak about what this device might entail — this Weibo post refers to it as a "conventional" folding phone — but any signs that the Pixel Fold is still alive are sure to relieve fans dreaming of a first-party foldable.

This second phone, however, is a lot more mysterious. It's allegedly a flagship product running on tensor 2, equipped with an IMX787 sensor, a 50MP main camera, and — most intriguingly, a ceramic body. If that sensor model sounds familiar to you, it's because it popped up a couple of weeks ago, attached to that mysterious "Lynx" device that no one can quite seem to nail down. If "Lynx" indeed has a ceramic body, its existence suddenly makes a whole lot more sense, offering premium materials beyond glass and metal for the first time in a Pixel phone.

Ceramic is rare in smartphones — it showed up in the Essential PH-1 and the OnePlus X, but its color limitations make it a hard sell for some manufacturers. It was initially set to appear in the OSOM OV1, too, before that device's untimely demise, and it's unclear if its Solana Saga successor will follow in its tracks. If Google does plan to build a ceramic Pixel in the future, it could go a long way in setting the company's phones apart from a pack made of glass, metal, and plastic.

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Forget glass, forget metal — Google could be going high-end with future Pixel materials - Android Police
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