Following months of leaks — some of them official — rumours and speculation, tech giant Google on Wednesday, October 4, officially pulled the wraps off its latest generation of smartphones, the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, at the Made by Google event. Google called the Pixels the "AI-centric mobile computer".
The Pixel 8 and 8 Pro will be powered by the third generation of Google's in-house Tensor chipset.
Design-wise, both devices look similar to their predecessors only, the Pixel 8 Pro has a single cutout for its rear triple camera setup, as opposed to a separate cutout for the telephoto lens in last year's model. Both phones sport a metal visor that houses the camera array, similar to last year's design.
As for the hardware, as mentioned earlier, both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will be powered by the Tensor G3 chipset. Both sport a 50 MP primary sensor and a 10.5 MP selfie camera, while the 8 has a 12 MP ultrawide lens. The 8 Pro will come with a 48 MP ultrawide lens and a 48 MP telephoto lens with up to 30x zoom.
The Pixel 8 will sport a a 6.2-inch colour-accurate 'Actua Display', while the Pixel 8 Pro features a 6.7 display. This year, the 120 Hz refresh rate also comes to the smaller Pixel 8. The display is capable of shifting from 60 to 120 Hz depending on the use, while 8 Pro supports a 1-120 Hz refresh rate on its LPTO display.
Unlike last year, however, this year, the Pixel 8 Pro has a flat display. The Pixel 8 boasts a 4,575 mAh battery — slightly higher than last year's 4,300 mAh — while the 8 Pro packs a 5,050 mAh battery.
Embedded in the Pixel 8 Pro's camera housing is a temperature sensor. Google said that it has submitted an application to the FDA, to enable Pixel’s Thermometer App to take the user's temperature and save it to Fitbit.
Coming to RAM and storage, the Pixel 8 comes with 8 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB of storage, while the 8 Pro comes with 12 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of storage.
The Pixel 8 will be available in Obsidian, Hazel, and Rose colour options, while the Pixel 8 Pro will come in Obsidian, Porcelain, and Bay Blue.
Both devices will run Android 14 out of the box, the first to run Google's latest OS, and will also be the first to feature many AI features, especially in photo editing, that Google had earlier announced at its I/O developers' conference this year.
The Pixel 8 will be available at a starting price of Rs 75,999 and the Pixel 8 Pro will come at a starting price tag of Rs 1,06,999.
Pixel Watch 2
Google also announced the second edition of its smartwatch, the Pixel Watch 2, at the same event. While the first edition never made it to India, the second edition will make its debut here. Running on WearOS 4, the Pixel Watch 2 resembles its predecessors but boasts advanced health tracking, battery life, Always-On Display, and more. The Pixel Watch 2 is priced starting at Rs 39,900.
The Pixel 8 series and the Watch 2 will be available for pre-order on Flipkart starting October 5 and will start shipping starting October 12.
(Edited by : Pihu Yadav)
First Published: Oct 4, 2023 8:07 PM IST
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