Last month after a few leaked renders, Google itself confirmed the design of the Pixel 4. Now, leaked CAD renders and a 360-degree video have made their way to the internet and they give us a clear look at the Pixel 4 XL.
If you hated the front design of the Pixel 3 XL, you are going to be disappointed with the Pixel 4 XL. As per the leaked renders, the device will have a massive bezel at the top similar to the one we saw on the Pixel 2 XL.
Thankfully, the bottom bezel has been reduced by several millimeters. The large bezel at the top does mean that Google has gotten rid of the ugly notch as seen on the Pixel 3 XL. The massive notch is seemingly being used to pack two front cameras along with some IR sensors for face unlock on the Pixel 4 XL.
The handset is rumored to be 9.3mm thick around the camera bump area, with its slimmest waistline being around 8.2mm. Sadly, there’s no headphone jack on the Pixel 4 XL and Google has also ditched the front-facing stereo speakers in favor of a bottom firing one. The earpiece will likely act as the second speaker for stereo speaker effect.
The renders also confirm that the Pixel 4 XL will give the physical fingerprint scanner a miss. It is possible that like other smartphones we will see Google adopt an in-display fingerprint scanner on the device. Or it could just go the Apple way and completely replace the fingerprint scanner with face unlock.
The renders also confirm the triple rear cameras on the Pixel 4 XL. Apart from a primary 12MP sensor, the handset is expected to come with a secondary telephoto sensor. As for the third camera sensor, it is likely a ToF sensor that will be used for AR purposes.
Our Take
Google getting rid of the ugly notch on the Pixel 4 XL is definitely a smart decision but the massive forehead means the handset is going to look awfully dated in front of other 2019 smartphones like the Galaxy Note 10, S10, OnePlus 7 Pro, and iPhone 11 which feature minimal bezels. Its high time Google ups its game in the design department if it wants the Pixel series to compete with flagship smartphones from Google and Apple.
