Pixel 7 leaks show no signs of Apple-style Dynamic Island innovation

Google just can’t keep secrets for long.

With only a few short days to go until Google officially unveils the Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, and Pixel Watch at its Made By Google event on Oct. 6, images as well as potential specs for the devices have already been laid bare on the internet for everyone to see. That is, even more so than the early sneak peeks Google has already given us throughout the year.

Over the weekend, a bunch of specs for the Pixel 7 line leaked courtesy of a Taiwan-based mobile carrier. And now, thanks to prolific tech leaker Evan Blass on Twitter, we can take a closer look at Google's new Pixels in a few colorways.

These leaks are good news in the sense that we can now set our expectations properly for the launch event, but they're bad news for anyone who was hoping for an iPhone 14 Dynamic Island-level of innovation from Google.

Pixel 7

First up, we have some photos of the Pixel 7 in white, black, and light green colorways. The actual design of the phones isn’t a surprise because Google tore that band-aid off itself back in May. (Yes, sometimes the leaks come from inside the house.)

According to those leaked carrier specs, you can expect the Pixel 7 to come with a 6.3-inch display and a 90Hz refresh rate, which is unfortunately not an upgrade over the refresh rate on Pixel 6. The rear cameras purportedly sport the same 50MP/12MP ultra-wide specs as the Pixel 6, which could be disappointing to those who wanted substantive camera upgrades on the hardware end.

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Instead, we’ll just have to live with the Tensor-fueled software magic powering whatever upgrades come to photography on Pixel 7.

That said, there are a couple of minor discrepancies between the leaks Blass posted and the carrier leaks, largely involving the camera specs. The carrier leak suggested the Pixel 7 would have a 10.8MP selfie cam, while specs Blass posted said it would retain the same 8MP selfie cam from before.

That’s not a massive difference, but it’s one to look out for during Google’s announcement event. 

Pixel 7 Pro

Blass also secured some shots of the more "professional" of Google’s two new phones. Here’s the Pixel 7 Pro in black, white, and what seems to be a grey-ish shade of green that probably has a name like "Forever Forest" or something in keeping with past Pixel tradition.

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The carrier leak said the Pixel 7 Pro would have a massive 6.7-inch display with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, which is the same as last year’s Pixel 6 Pro and the same as the new iPhone 14 Plus and 14 Pro Max. Pixel 7 Pro users will get the usual 50MP/12MP ultra-wide camera array to go along with a 48MP telephoto lens (as opposed to a 12MP telephoto lens on the iPhone 14 Pro), per the same leak.

However…it's worthing noting the Blass leaks made no mention of that telephoto lens. If true, it would represent the only real hardware upgrade for the Pixel 7 Pro’s cameras, so Pixel photographers better hope and pray their wishes come true on Thursday.

Another thing mentioned in the carrier leak that is not in the Blass leak is the return of face unlocking via the selfie cam. Google briefly introduced face unlocking with the Pixel 4, but killed the feature off in favor of fingerprint scanning with the Pixel 5 onward. If face unlocking does make a return, this would give users another way to quickly unlock the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, and would bring further parity with the iPhone 14.

Fingers crossed (pun intended) that the fingerprint scanner is less buggy than the one on Pixel 6. 

Pixel Watch

Lastly, in the Blass tweet that included camera specs for Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, there was also a look at some specs for the Pixel Watch, Google's first homemade Android smartwatch.

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There’s a lot less to go on here, especially in light of the fact that the carrier leaks for the Pixel phones didn’t include any info on the Pixel Watch.

We can see a heartbeat sensor in the photos, which was pretty much a given considering how smartwatches have generally become synonymous with health tracking in recent years. With that in mind, there's no word yet about fertility tracking, which was a major selling point of the Apple Watch Series 8 earlier this year.

A separate leak over the weekend from Slashleaks indicated the Pixel Watch will also have sleep monitoring, electrocardiogram (or ECG) tracking, quick pairing with Pixel Buds, and a six month subscription to Fitbit Premium out of the box. We’ll have to wait for Thursday’s event to find out how much of that is true.

As for potential pricing, another leak earlier this year suggested the Pixel Watch would start at $350, which is $50 less than the cheapest Apple Watch Series 8, but $100 more than the Apple Watch SE. Time will certainly tell on that.

After Apple's surprising Dynamic Island innovations with the iPhone 14 Pro, it may be a tad bit disappointing to find out Google seemingly doesn't have similar plans for the Pixel 7 Pro. Of course, it's always possible Google could shock us all with some tightly held secrets on Thursday. But if your hype level has suddenly dwindled down to near-zero after seeing these leaks, we don't blame you.