Google unveils Pixel 6, 6 Pro with Tensor silicon

Google Pixel 6 series will be available in select markets from October 28 onwards

As promised, Google on Tuesday (October 19) pulled the wraps off the new Pixel 6, 6 Pro during the virtual event streamed from its flagship Google hardware store in New York City.

The new Pixel 6, 6 Pro features premium build quality with the visually appealing dual colourway tone like the previous iterations.

The big change is the camera bar on the back, which gives the phone a clean, symmetrical design that puts the onlookers' focus on the camera.

The standard Pixel 6 sports a matte black metal band that complements the three colour options-- sorta seafoam, kinda coral, and stormy black.

Google says that the Pixel 6 Pro was inspired by the finishes we see in luxury jewelry and watches. It’s made with a polished metal unibody and transitions into gorgeous curved glass in colors that complement the metallic frames. It comes in three colours-- cloudy white, sorta sunny, and stormy black.

The Pixel 6 Pro features 6.7-inch curved LTPO pOLED QHD+ (3120x1400p) with an adaptive display refresh rate (10Hz-120Hz) and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus shield, fingerprint-resistant coating and IP68 dust-and-water-resistant.

It also features an in-display fingerprint sensor and dual SIM options.

Inside, it runs Android 12 backed by 12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB / 256GB / 512GB (UFS 3.1) storage and a 5,003mAh battery with 30W fast charging and 23W wireless charging.

The new Pixel 6 Pro series. Credit: Google

As far as the photography is concerned, it comes with a triple-camera module-- main 50MP wide (Samsung GN1 sensor, f/1.85, 82-degree field-of-view: FOV, LDAF: laser detect auto-focus sensor) backed by 12MP Ultra-wide camera (with Sony IMX386 sensor, f/2.2, 114-degree FOV) and a 48MP telephoto camera (with Sony IMX586 sensor, ƒ/3.5, 4X optical zoom, 23.5-degree FOV, 0.8 μm pixel width) with LED flash.

On the front, it features an 11.1MP front camera (with Sony IMX663 sensor, ƒ/2.2, 94-degree FOV, 1.22 μm pixel width).

Both the front and rear cameras can record 4K video recording at up to 60fps (frames per second).

On the other hand, the Pixel 6 features a 6.4-inch full HD+(1080 x 2400p) AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. It is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus shield, fingerprint-resistant coating and IP68 dust-and-water resistant rating.

It also features an in-display fingerprint sensor and dual SIM options.

The new Pixel 6 series. Credit: Google

The Pixel 6 comes with Android 12 OS, 8GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB / 256GB UFS 3.1 storage, and a 4,614mAh battery with 30W fast charging and 21W wireless charging support.

It boasts a dual-camera module-- 50MP (with Samsung GN1 sensor, f/1.85, OIS, 82-degree FOV, LDAF) backed by 12MP Ultra-wide (114-degree FOV) camera (with Sony IMX386 sensor, f/2.2, spectral and flicker sensor) with LED flash. It also supports 4K video recording at up to 60fps.

On the front, it houses an 8MP (ƒ/2.0), 84-degree wide field of view, and 1.12 μm pixel width.

Both the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro are powered by Google's proprietary Tensor chipset (2 x 2.80GHz Cortex-X1 + 2 x 2.25GHz Cortex-A76 + 4 x 1.80GHz Cortex-A55) with 848MHz Mali-G78 MP20 GPU and is integrated with Titan M2 security chipset.

With the new chipset, the Pixel 6 series promises 80 per cent and 370 per cent faster CPU and GPU performance, respectively compared to the Pixel 5 series.

Also, both the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro cameras support Night Sight, Top Shot, Portrait mode, Super Res Zoom, Motion auto-focus, Live HDR+, Frequent Faces, Dual exposure controls, Cinematic Pan, Ultrawide lens, Portrait Light, Magic Eraser, Motion mode, Real tone, Face Unblur, Panorama, Manual white balancing and Locked Folder.

Both the Pixel 6 series model support improved speech recognition and language understanding capabilities. Also, it boasts a new Live Translate feature.

"Live Translate enables you to message with people in different languages, including English, French, German, Italian, and Japanese. It works by detecting whether a message in your chat apps, like WhatsApp or Snapchat, is different from your language, and if so, automatically offers you a translation. All of this detection and processing happens entirely on-device within Private Compute Core, so no data ever leaves the device, and it works even without network connectivity. With support for Interpreter mode, you’ll also be able to take turns translating what is said in up to 48 languages. Activate Assistant and say “Be my interpreter,” Google said.

The company said the new Pixel 6, 6 Pro will get a total of five years of OS update support, the longest for any Android phone in the industry.

The top-end Pixel 6 Pro comes in three configurations-- 12GB RAM + 128GB storage, 12GB RAM + 256GB storage and 12GB RAM + 512GB storage-- for $899 ( approx. Rs. 67,475), $999 ( around Rs. 74,981) and $1,099 (roughly Rs 82,486), respectively.

The regular Pixel 6 comes in two variants--8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage for $599 (approx. Rs. 44,958), and $699 ( around Rs. 52, 490, respectively.
Google Pixel 6 series is available for pre-order in select markets including the US and UK starting October 19 and go on sale on October 28.

Google also announced the Pixel Pass subscription service. It starts at $45 (approx. Rs 3,379) per month for U.S. customers, Pixel Pass gives customers a brand new Pixel 6 along with Google One, YouTube Premium, and YouTube Music Premium, Google Play Pass, and Preferred Care.

The Pixel Pass with Pixel 6 Pro starts at only $55 (Rs 4,130) per month. After two years, customers will have the option to upgrade to a new Pixel.

There is no official word on whether the Pixel 6 series will be coming to India or not.

Get the latest news on new launches, gadget reviews, apps, cybersecurity, and more on personal technology only on DH Tech.