Google is planning to launch a mid-range Pixel device for users in 2019. It is apparently working on the hardware development of the upcoming smartphone and it will be powered by Snapdragon 710 processor. According to the prolific leaker Ronald Quandt, the new mid range Pixel-branded phone will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 710, a processor aimed at mid-end Android handsets. The device would be released in the first-half of 2019.
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To recall, Qualcomm had launched all-new Snapdragon 710 system-on-chip (SoC) mobile processor that is more powerful than the Snapdragon 660 SoC, but not as capable as the top-end Snapdragon 845 processor. The Mi 8 SE is the first phone to be powered by a Snapdragon 710 chipset.
Snapdragon 710 is Qualcomm’s latest “upper mid-end” processor. It is the first of the 700-series, which was announced at MWC this year.
Quandt, in another tweet, said that there is no information on whether Google has planned a similar smartphone for 2018. He said that he does not know any more specifics on the phone since hardware development for it only began about a month back.
As per earlier reports, the upcoming mid-range Google Pixel handset may come with Android Go out-of-the-box. Last year, Google had announced the arrival of Android Oreo (Go edition) that is supposed to power phones with less than 1GB RAM.
Up till now, previous Pixel smartphones have all been high-end, with the top model of the Pixel 2 XL costing as high as Rs 82,000 in India. A mid-end Pixel phone, if it launches in the near future, could expand Google’s reach in the world’s second-largest smartphone market after China. Not just Google, technology giants including Apple, Huawei and Xiaomi are all increasingly looking at India for growth. According to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), the sales of smartphones in India will grow by 14 per cent this year and by 16 per cent next year.