Google Pixel 2 To Arrive With Snapdragon 836 On Oct. 5

Samsung just announced the Galaxy Note 8 yesterday, while LG and Apple are both expected to announce new flagship phones in the coming weeks. However, Google is also gearing up to unveil its Pixel 2 smartphones that are now rumored to be revealed on Oct. 5.

The Oct. 5 launch date for the Google Pixel 2 was first reported by notorious leaker Evan Blass (@evleaks) on Twitter. Blass is known for providing accurate information on upcoming devices, so the date is highly expected to be correct.

Another thing to note here is that the Oct. 5 reveal of the Pixel 2 smartphones lines up perfectly with Google’s announcement of the original Pixel phones last year. The first Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones was announced during Google’s event on Oct. 4, 2016.

In Blass’ same tweet, he also claims that Google’s Pixel 2 smartphones will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 836 processors. Qualcomm hasn’t officially announced the Snapdragon 836 yet, but this isn’t the first time we’ve heard of it.

Back in July, it was reported that the Snapdragon 836 would debut with the Google Pixel 2. The SD836 is believed to be about 10 percent faster than the Snapdragon 835, which currently powers Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8.

With the Google Pixel 2 and the Pixel XL 2 both expected to arrive with this particular Qualcomm chipset, the company is once again following its previous strategy from the original Pixel phones. The first-generation Pixel and Pixel XL debuted last year with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 CPU, while most other flagship Android smartphones at the time were powered by the Snapdragon 820.

Although the Snapdragon 836 is expected to be a step up from the SD835, that 10 percent bump shouldn’t mean too much of a difference in actual real-life performance, as pointed out by 9To5Google.

Google hasn’t announced anything yet about the Pixel and the Pixel XL 2, but previous leaks have already disclosed what to expect from both handsets. The Pixel 2 is believed to come with a 5-inch display and will be manufactured by HTC, while the Pixel XL 2 will have a 6-inch display and will be manufactured by LG, according to Phone Arena.

Last month, Android Police released an render of the Pixel XL 2, and it shows that the device will have a slim-bezel design that’s reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy S8. Unfortunately, only the “XL” model will have this design while the regular Pixel 2 will retain the same thick bezels from the original Pixel and Pixel XL.

It’s also being rumored that both models of the Google Pixel 2 will have the squeezable frame feature called Active Edge. This would be similar to the HTC U11’s Edge Sense feature where users will be able to trigger shortcuts and other functions by squeezing the frame of the handset.

On the software side of things, the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 are both expected to run Android 8.0 Oreo straight out of the box.