The latest Pixel 4 story doesn’t stand up to scrutiny

If a phone has already been revealed, does a leak still count as a leak? Weeks after Google took the surprising decision to reveal the Pixel 4 smartphone, the leakers have not been deterred.

Another image purportedly showing the next-gen Pixel phone – which is still months away from launch – has appeared on social media. Yes, another one.

The latest arrived this weekend courtesy of the little-known @xiaomishka Twitter account and claims to show the Pixel 4 in handsets in black and white, encased in plastic.

To be honest, although the design looks very similar to the one published by Google, we’re not so sure about the legitimacy of this one.

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For example, there’s something weird happening with the buttons. The white version of the handset appears to have a set of buttons on each side of the handset, whereas the black device does not. The closer look at the renders appears to rule out legitimacy in this instance.

If the render was the real deal, we’d be excited about the prospect of a headphone jack, which appears on the Pixel 3a and 3a XL, but not on the flagship Pixel 3 phone.

The Russian leaker in question appears to specialise in Xiaomi leaks, as the Twitter handle would suggest, but the following of just 555 (no judgement, I only have about 700) would suggest that there isn’t much of a record of accuracy here. It’s also difficult to tell whether the account is the actual source of the render in question.

Google is likely to officially reveal the Pixel 4 range in October this year. The company took the surprising step of revealing the device early amid a flurry of leaks showing the unique square camera design.

The move may have been made for a number of reasons. Firstly, Apple is likely to unveil a similar camera array with the iPhone 11 later this year, so Google gets a jump start. Secondly, the design isn’t popular, so Google is perhaps getting the most unappealing element out of the way pre-launch.