Google accidentally confirms Pixel 3 in new Android source code
Google done goofed.
In a commit message on the Android Open Source Project, spotted by XDA-Developers, Google has confirmed that the mysterious Pixel 3 is a real thing. We don't yet know where, when, or how, but it's coming.
The commit, called "Cherrypick," reads "This change added the config because the HAL V_1_2 only supports Pixel 3, and the new Auto Selection Network UI is based on HAL V_1_2. So we set the flag to decide which Auto Selection Network UI should be used based in the device type."
"HAL" here refers to something called a "Hardware Abstraction Layer," or software that connects a phone's hardware to the Android operating system. This particular HAL impacts cellular connectivity, meaning we might be able to expect new radio features in the Pixel 3.
Droid Life also posits that the HAL is related to Project Treble, a piece of software in Android Oreo that enables phones to update more quickly.
This isn't to be confused with the affordable Pixel phone we expect Google to release this summer. That phone is not expected to carry the Pixel 3 branding. Anonymous sources told the Economic Times that we can expect the Pixel 3 around Diwali this year, which falls in early November.
Topics Google
Monica wrote for Mashable's Tech section with a focus on retail, internet of things, and the intersections of technology and social justice. She holds a degree in creative writing from Brown University, and has previously written for Dow Jones Media, the New York Post, Yahoo Finance, and others. In her free time, she can be found attempting to cook Asian food, buying board games, and looking for new hobbies.
