Google Pixel 2 Family Reportedly Launching October 5th With Snapdragon 836 Muscle

This news comes from noted leaker Evan Blass, so his confirmation of the launch date is nearly as bulletproof as if it came directly from Google. What’s even more interesting is that Blass confirms that the flagships will be powered by a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 836 processor. Launching this processor so soon after the Snapdragon 835 wouldn’t be unprecedented, as Qualcomm did the same thing last year with the Snapdragon 820/821.

Google's second-generation Pixel handsets, powered by Snapdragon 836 SoC's, will be unveiled on October 5th.

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) August 24, 2017

However, don’t expect to see huge performance gains with Snapdragon 836. We might see a minor bump in clock speeds and some power optimizations, but it won’t be a huge leap. Interestingly, this Snapdragon 836 revelation runs contrary to what we’ve seen in FCC documents for the Pixel 2. Those documents suggest that the smartphone will be powered by the Snapdragon 835 and will support Active Edge functionality.

Of the two smartphones being released this year, the Pixel XL 2 (Taimen) is expected to receive the most thorough redesign. It will have minimal bezels (like the Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG G6), while retaining the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and single lens camera system. The Pixel 2 (Walleye), however, will sport more traditional thick display bezels and will look more like its predecessor.

Both the Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 will come reinstalled with Google’s Android 8.0 Oreo operating system, which was released earlier this week.