If you are a fan of
Google's Pixel devices, we have good news—the company is getting ready to refresh its hardware line, meaning there will be a
Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL released this fall. On top of that,
Google is said to be prepping a new Pixelbook with a sleeker design than the current model, and of course there are rumors of a new smartwatch.
Naturally none of this is real until Google says so, with an official announcement. In the meantime, one of the web's most prominent product leakers, Evan Blass (known as @evleaks on Twitter), added credibility to the rumors by tweeting out Google's future hardware plans.
According to Blass, Google is retooling its Pixelbook with thinner bezels. That would be a welcome upgrade over the current design. The first generation Pixelbook is a modern looking laptop in its own right, but if there's a criticism to be had, it is the chunky bezels around the display. This is amplified by an increasing number of Windows laptops with ultra-thin bezels, like
Dell's XPS 13 and
HP's Spectre x360.
There are not specs to share just yet, though we assume the new Pixelbook will be powered by the latest
Qualcomm ARM chipset and of course run Chrome OS (though there was a report that Google was
seeking Windows 10 certification for its Pixelbook). It's also a safe bet it will support Google Assistant, just as the current generation Pixelbook does.
Beyond the Pixelbook, Google will launch the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, probably in October. Rumor has it the new Pixel phones will sport an
upgraded display. It will also be interesting to see if Google adopts Corning's new
Gorilla Glass 6 for added durability.
"Gorilla Glass 6 is an entirely new glass composition that can be chemically strengthened to give it significantly higher levels of compression than is possible with Gorilla Glass 5," said Dr. Jaymin Amin, vice president of technology and product development, Corning Gorilla Glass and Corning Specialty Materials. "Moreover, with breaks during drops being a probabilistic event, the added compression helps increase, on average, the likelihood of survival through multiple drop events."
What we can say for certain is that the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL will come out of the gate wielding the next major release of Google's mobile operating system, currently referred to as Android P.