Google Pixel 2: Leaked image hints at bezel-free design

Upcoming smartphone could axe visible antenna bands and boast a larger rear-facing camera

170713-google-pixel-2.jpg

A leaked image of the second generation Google Pixel XL have emerged and suggest the upcoming smartphone will look substantially different to its predecessor.

See more

The image, posted by Android Police, incorporates the bezel-free design of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and a significantly larger rear-facing camera.

The old model's antenna bands appear to have disappeared, the website says, although these may have been "cleverly hidden" within the phone's structure.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Its backplate has a larger area of matt paint compared to the outgoing model, but the two-tone design and rear-facing fingerprint scanner have been carried over.

The smartphone could also feature a six-inch AMOLED display and come with squeezable sides, says TechRadar, the latter recently debuting on HTC's new U11.

If the leak is true, Forbes says Google would have "taken to heart some of the criticism that greeted the original Pixel."

When it first launched last year, the site says fans were displeased with "its large top and bottom bezels", which are almost non-existent on the phone in the leaked image.

Google has yet to reveal any details about a successor to the Pixel, but TechRadar says it expects the company to "make an announcement later this year."

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.