Most of what there is to know about the upcoming Google Pixel 7a just leaked more than a month ahead of schedule, as has recently been the norm for the search giant's handsets.
Vietnamese tech blog Zing News had the scoop, snagging what is presumed to be a production sample of the device well ahead of its expected reveal at this year's Google I/O developer conference.
It didn't take long for Google to lock the handset remotely, nor did it take much time for the rest of the tech blogging world to extract as much information as possible from the pictures and details shared by Zing News.
Assuming this leak is accurate and the Pixel 7a that launches later in the year more or resembles the one that the world got a sneak peek of this week, it seems safe to say that Google's next Pixel phone for penny pinchers will offer up even fewer surprises than the last one.
As with the previous Pixel 6a, the Pixel 7a is shaping up to be a hybrid between the aforementioned A-series device and last year's Google Pixel 7. It's got the form factor and wallet-friendly price tag of the former, plus a few of the premium features and flair seen in the latter. In practice, that combination works out to include a 6.1-inch OLED screen clocked at 90Hz, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of base storage and a matching set of 12MP cameras on the back.
The rear-facing half of the leaked Pixel 7a boasts a similar bar-shaped camera bump to the one found on its 2022 counterpart. The front-facing screen has a familiar display cutout containing the selfie camera, softly squared-off edges and a compact form factor that's much more pocket-friendly than most flagship smartphones nowadays.
While the extra memory is likely to go a long way towards helping the Pixel 7a stand out in an increasingly competitive mid-range market, the few details that this leak didn't confirm might be the most important ones.
For instance, there's no solid confirmation from Zing News that this year's affordable Pixel comes kitted out with the second-generation Tensor processor (found in the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro). This is widely expected to be the most significant upgrade that the Pixel 7a will offer over last year's model, but it's just as easy to imagine Google opting to recycle the same chipset seen in last year's Google Pixel 6a in order to keep costs down.
The other thing that's missing here is the recommended retail price.
For obvious reasons, this latest leak has shed little light on just how much the Pixel 7a will cost in Australia. Still, given that last year's Pixel 6a launched at a starting price of $749 for the base model, we do have a grasp on the ballpark in which it sits.
Inflation might figure into the Australian price in one way or another, but there's not a massive amount of room for the price of this year's Pixel A device to move upwards without making the $999 RRP of the Google Pixel 7 stand out like a sore thumb.
Look out for more information about the Pixel 7a, including the Australian price and our review, when it gets officially announced later down the line.
This story first appeared on our sister website Reviews.org AU
Fergus Halliday
Digital Content Editor
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