Just a few months after Google launched its latest flagship handsets, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, the search engine is already rumored to be preparing its premium smartphone offering for next year. According to the latest rumors, the next-generation Pixel brand will not only include two but three new variants in 2018. The biggest of the three Pixel 3 phones, the Pixel 3 XL, is expected to include Qualcomm's top-end mobile chip, the Snapdragon 845.
According to Tech Advisor, it is likely that the release date of Google Pixel 3 will fall in October next year. Specifically, the new Pixel 3 smartphones will be put on sale by the last week of October, while the official unveiling will happen in the first few days of the month. It is hard to pinpoint an exact launch date for Pixel 3, but knowing that the first Pixel and Pixel 2 handsets were unveiled on October 4th, the next Pixel is likely to launch on the same date.
Droid Life reported that Google will introduce three variants for the Pixel 3 handset, bearing the codenames Albacore, Blueline and Crosshatch. However, it is possible that the company will further conceal the details regarding their next flagship phones by simply referring to these devices as A, B, and C. It should be noted that the Google Pixel 2 was also rumored to arrive in more than two variants. Ultimately, the public only saw the regular-sized Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.
Assuming that there will be three Google Pixel 3 phones announced next year, one of these will be regarded as the high-end or flagship variant. This device is expected to be the Pixel 3 XL, and it is likely to receive the latest top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. This chip is even more powerful than the current Snapdragon 835 used in this year's flagship handsets such as the Samsung Galaxy S8, boasting a 7nm chip with 30 percent greater power efficiency than its predecessor. The Snapdragon 845 is also packed with an octa-core Kryo 385 CPU, four 2.8GHz high-power cores, and four 1.8GHz low-power cores.
The Google Pixel 3 is rumored to receive a boost from 4GB to 6GB RAM capacity, while the maximum built-in storage is expected to stay at 128GB. Although, if there is one thing that the Pixel phone followers would want to see in the 2018 version, that is the return of the 3.5mm headphone jack. To note, Google has chosen to get rid of the traditional audio socket, even as the company has openly criticized Apple for removing the 3.5mm headphone jack in the iPhone 7.
