The Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will certainly be a long way off as the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro were only launched in October 2022, but we’re already thinking about more models – and even hearing about them.
Below you’ll find everything we’ve heard so far, along with our expert predictions covering a possible release date, price and specs.
Then below, we’ve put together a wishlist of what we want from the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, because while the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are the best phones Google has ever made, they’re not perfect.
The standard Pixel 7 in particular has room for improvement, but even the Pixel 7 Pro has some downsides, so our wishlist lists the key improvements we expect from these next models.
To the point
- What is this? Another flagship phone from Google
- when is it coming out? Probably October 2023
- How much does it cost? Probably at least $599 / £599 / AU$999
Google Pixel 8 release date and price
There’s no word yet on when the Google Pixel 8 might launch, but that’s an easy guess as the phones with the main numbers almost always land in October of their year of release.
In fact, every non-A-line Pixel model was announced in October, with the exception of the Pixel 5, which was unveiled on September 30, 2020 (which is almost October) and didn’t ship until October.
More specific than that is tricky as October dates were different, but the Pixel 8 is likely to be unveiled in early or mid-October 2023, followed by shipping in mid-to-late October, possibly around a week after the announcement.
We’re not sure how much the Pixel 8 will cost, but the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro had exactly the same prices as their predecessors, so it’s possible Google will keep those prices for another year.
In that case, the Pixel 8 will start at $599 / £599 / AU$999 and the Pixel 8 Pro will start at $899 / £849 / AU$1,299. That said, we wouldn’t be surprised if Google bumped up the price a bit, especially as current models undercut key competition like the iPhone 14 lineup.
Google Pixel 8 news and leaks
We haven’t heard much about the Google Pixel 8 yet, but there have been a few leaks. First, there are reports that the Tensor 3 chipset we expect to power the phone is already in the works and will again be made by Samsung. However, there’s no word yet on how much more powerful this will be than the Tensor G2 in the Pixel 7.
Meanwhile, another leak suggests that the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro may be codenamed Shiba and Husky respectively, and that both may have 12GB of RAM and run Android 14. According to the same source, the Pixel 8 has a 1080 x 2268 screen. , while Husky has a resolution of 1344 x 2822.
We also know that satellite communications will likely come with the Pixel 8, as will the iPhone 14. Hiroshi Lockheimer (Android’s senior vice president) said support for this will come with Android 14; so it’s likely the Pixel 8 will be the first Google phone to offer this.
Finally, there is evidence of a mystery Pixel phone in the works which could be either a Pixel 8 or a Pixel 8 Pro based on leaked specs. 9to5Google (opens in a new tab) found this evidence in publicly available code from the Android Open Source Project and points to a phone with a 1440 x 3120 120 Hz screen, Tensor chipset and dimensions of 155 x 71 mm.
These screen specs are in line with the current Pro models, but the dimensions are larger than we’d expect from a standard Pixel 8, so it could mean a resolution and refresh rate update is planned for the standard model.
However, this screen resolution is also different from the aforementioned resolutions, so for now, we’ll take all of these leaks with a grain of salt.
What we want to see
Below we’ve listed the five things we’re most looking forward to from the Pixel 8 lineup.
1. 120Hz screen for both models
The Pixel 7 Pro has a 120Hz screen, as you’d expect from a flagship phone, but the standard Pixel 7 doesn’t – it’s stuck at 90Hz.
Considering that even some of the best cheap phones now have 120Hz screens, this seems a bit unacceptable, so we really hope Google offers a 120Hz screen on both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.
2. More power
The Pixel 7 line uses the Google Tensor G2 chipset, and it’s a chipset that has a lot to offer.
Designed specifically for these phones, it excels in areas like machine learning and AI, but when it comes to sheer power, the Tensor G2 falls a little short as it performs worse in most benchmarks than key rivals like the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 and Apple A16 Bionic. In fact, it performs much worse.
So we’d like to focus on the power of the Tensor G3 (or whatever the next model will be called) to make the Pixel 8 line more competitive on that front. However, we don’t want this to come at the expense of what the Tensor chipsets are currently good at.
3. Better battery life and faster charging
Both the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro should comfortably go through a day of fairly heavy use based on our testing, but in most cases they won’t last a day or even halfway through a second day.
So their longevity is respectable but far from exceptional, and they also charge quite slowly, so we’d love to see an improvement in both the battery life and charging speed of the Pixel 8 lineup.
4. Long-term support
Google promised three years of Android version updates and five years of security patches for the Pixel 7 line, which has beaten some Android phones, but it doesn’t come close to the number of years of support Apple usually offers with its iPhones.
Since Google makes Android and uses a dedicated chipset designed specifically for the phones here, there really shouldn’t be any reason why it can’t support its phones any longer, so we’d love to see the extended support offered on the Pixel 8.
5. 10x optical zoom in Pro
The Google Pixel 7 Pro offers 5x optical zoom, up from 4x on the Pixel 6 Pro, but we’d like to see a bigger leap for the next model, bringing it up to 10x in line with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
That said, we still want to offer a shorter zoom distance as well – ideally 2x or 3x – so there are two distinctly different zoom distances available. The Google Pixel 7 Pro is already one of the best camera phones around, but with this update, the Pixel 8 Pro could be even better.