Highlights:
There have been a lot of reports on Google’s mid-range devices, and the phones have been leaked in videos as well as in numerous images. It has been widely reported that these handsets will bear the Pixel 3 Lite and Pixel 3 XL Lite names, however, a new report suggests that these devices may actually be called Google Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL respectively. Folks at XDADevelopers were able to find references of the phones in the ConnectivityMonitor and the Google Camera apps.
The tech platform accessed and published a code snippet from a class in the ConnectivityMonitor app which states all the Pixel devices and their code-names. The Pixel and Pixel XL (“sailfish” and “marlin”), Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL (“walleye” and “taimen”), and Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL (“blueline” and “crosshatch”) all make an appearance, they say. The folks also mention about two “B4S4” devices which are “bonito” and “sargo.” B4S4 is likely referring to “bonito” and “sargo” being fourth-generation Pixel phones.
As mentioned above, there is another mention of “sargo” in the library for Google Camera in the vendor partition. Apart from the names Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3 XL, and crosshatch (the code-name for the Pixel 3 XL), the entry shows “Pixel 3a XL” and the “sargo” code-name. Though the evidence suggests that the Google Pixel 3a XL is code-named “sargo,” but the tech news platform did not confirm the development hinting that the search engine giant may launch the rumoured phones with some other names.
Many speculate the phones will be announced in Spring 2019, although other reports claim it could come sometime after Google I/O 2019. Reportedly, these phones will even undercut the iPhone XR in terms of price, which Apple launched as a budget iPhone last year.
Going by the numerous reports, the Google Pixel 3 Lite or Pixel 3a will come with a Snapdragon 670 SoC paired with 4GB RAM and 32GB storage (no microSD card slot). It is speculated to come with a 5.5-inch display and a 2,915 mAh battery. The camera seems to be same as the one in the Pixel 3 devices, that is, a 12MP rear camera with dual LED flash and an 8MP front shooter.
The larger variant, called the Pixel 3 XL Lite or the Pixel 3a XL will reportedly come with a Snapdragon 710 chipset under the hood. This device may have a 6-inch panel. Both the phones will run on Android 9 Pie, and will have USB Type-C and 3.5mm headphone jack. There is no information on the RAM, storage and the battery size of the larger variant phone. The Pixel 3 XL Lite or the Pixel 3a XL was spotted on Geekbench scoring 1805 in single-core and 5790 in multi-core tests.
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