When John Prosser leaks or predicts something, one usually takes it with a grain of salt. He’s been right about a bunch of designs, including the colorful iMacs, the AirTags, and even the AirPods Max, but he missed it with the Pixel 5, and even made a pretty big bet about the date of Apple’s Spring Loaded event this year. A bet which he lost and had to shave his eyebrows on YouTube for. However, taking things in his stride, Prosser is back for yet another prediction/leak which he feels is right on point. It’s the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, which Google is slated to release this year… with Google’s first homemade silicone chip on the inside to rival Apple’s M1, and more noticeably, a whopper of a camera bump.
I wouldn’t really call this a bump because it’s so wide and protruding, it’s practically a shelf. Prosser claims these images are as legit as they come, because they’re based on actual leaked photos from his inside source. Deciding it was better to protect the source by creating fresh 3D renders rather than just circulating those leaked images, Prosser collaborated with Ian Zelbo to bring the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro to life. Now I’ll be much more critical of Google’s strategy when the phone actually drops (because Google did such a horribly half-assed job with the Pixel 5 last year, drawing the ire of many Android lovers… me included), so let’s just look at these renders for what they are. According to Prosser, Google’s working on two phones, the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro (they ditched the XL name). The smaller 6 has a dual-camera setup on the back, while the slightly taller Pro opts for 3 cameras. The Pixel’s design language has been famous for its color-blocking design, with the upper half being glossy and black, and the lower half being a variety of colors and finishes. This concept develops on that original style, adding a band of black running between the upper and lower blocks.
Objectively speaking, the band protrudes at least 2-3 millimeters from the phone’s back, making it look almost like a belt or a shelf emerging from the phone. Subjectively, it kind of makes the phone look like a criminal – serves them right for stealing the ‘Pro’ nomenclature from Apple! However, that really isn’t an indictment on the phone’s design itself, it gives the Pixel a strong new character, which makes sense, because this is a new era for the Pixel.
Prosser further breaks down the renders, talking about how the two phones come in different colors too. The smaller Pixel 6 has an orange band on top and a pure white block at the bottom. The Pro version, however, ditches the white bottom for an orange-tinted white. Prosser also mentions the presence of a Champagne-Gold Pixel 6 Pro (the first image in this article) that I personally really love.
The renders are as close as possible to the leaked images Prosser has his hands on. In fact, it even exactly mimics the wallpaper and widget on the screen. The screen even comes with a centrally aligned hole-punch camera, and we still have no word on whether there’s an in-screen fingerprint reader, so the jury’s still out on that. Interestingly though, the final image in this piece has the Pixel 6 sitting beside a rather interesting-looking smartwatch. Could it be the highly anticipated Pixel smartwatch?? Let’s wait till Google’s product event to find out!
Image Credits: Jon Prosser & Ian Zelbo
