Here's our best render leak yet.
We're just a couple weeks away from Google's October 4 Pixel event, so we're in the crunch time for major leaks. Look what we have here: the folks over at Droid-life have renders of the new Pixel 2 XL in both black and white. Yes the name is apparently "Pixel 2 XL" with the 2 before the XL, which is something that has been a bit of a toss-up before now.
What we see looks a whole lot like early leaks, with the glass "visor" on the back that's much smaller than last year and no longer containing the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. A larger, single camera lens is further down from the top edge, but the rest of the back look like a dead ringer for the current Pixel XL — lots of flat, lightly textured metal. There is what looks like a power button sitting above volume keys on the side. There's obviously a white version as well, which retains the black underneath the back glass, which should get some people excited.
The leak also offers up a purported starting price of $849, which will coincide with 64GB of internal storage. A bump to $949 gets you 128GB. That starting price is an $80 jump over the Pixel XL's starting price in 2016, and unsurprisingly more in line with the super-top-end phones of the year. Let's hope the smaller Pixel 2 has a more attainable price to counterbalance it.
Reader comments
Google Pixel 2 XL shown in black and white, pricing rumored at $849
Dipped in chocolate?
LG Chocolate.... Not something LG wants to be reminded of.... LOL!
I remember those chocolate phones lol.
jfs101 - Dang it, you stole my comment! Lolz
All right this price sh*t is getting ridiculous. You can't even expand mem. Smdh!!!
Agreed. But as it has been said before many times, we as consumers ultimately set the price. The manufacturers test the grounds, and if we collectively ignored this device and the initial sales reflected this, I'm positive the price would come down considerably and quickly. But alas, we won't do that because collectively we need the latest and greatest and we need it now... and they know that. So, get ready for prices to keep going up up up because people just can't seem to take a stand on this issue. They need it now... gotta have it! It's only going to get worst from here.
I'm not sure that's how it works. Consumers adjust to inflation, not the other way around. If people want something, they'll pay for it. That's the way its always worked. Samsung and Apple are poised to break records this year, even at extremely high price points.
People complain, and then they open their wallets even faster.
Speak for yourself. I bought a year old Moto Z for $350 (back in July) and couldn't be happier.
I'm not speaking for myself. Millions of consumers have already done the talking.
This definitely has worked so far...HA! Look at the Nexus Pixel progression: No SD card expansion, no removable battery, no head phone jack (now), low price point........yep, you are correct, the consumer definitely tells Goog what to do.
No matter what it's priced Google isn't going to ship a Pixel with an SD card slot, soooo
You might wanna step into the 21'st century and cloud storage. Expandable memory is outdated an honestly a waste of space for other hardware / smaller frame for the phone. Don't make the rest of us suffer because you're unwilling to let go of the past.
Some would say the same about the headphone jack.
Just as many would probably be upset because they still want to use it.
I like cloud storage and am all for it but expandable memory is important when you don't have a connection. Either that or have more internal memory from the start
So Apple always had it right?
That pricing can't be right. $100 only gets a bump from 64gb to 128gb. That's worse than Apple with memory prices. I simply don't believe this.
It seems possible to me. Didn't they match Apple's prices last year?
Some people refuse to believe the earth is (mostly) a sphere, that humans evolved from a common ancestor with the other great apes or that vaccination saves lives...
Their lack of belief doesn't make any of those things any less true.
That said, this is merely conjecture at this point, so your scepticism is very valid. Just be prepared to adjust your belief based on evidence... Google have never really ridden the cutting edge of storage options. They want everyone using Drive, Photos and play music, not storing files locally.
So they think that they warrant iphone 8 plus price with half the storage for the same price? I really hope this is wrong, or it better blow us all away. Single camera isn't going to do it for that price, squeeze isn't going to do it for that price. 64GB isn't going to do it for that price. For me anyways, I would likely wait another month or two when the Note 8 is $200-300 off, or the something else newish that will have taken the price hit already.
I think the pricing is what it is because of the screen - large display, small bezels.
That's too expensive! I have the HTC U11 and I was wondering about Pixel 2 XL but at that prize? No way!
Uglier than the first Pixels and overpriced like other flagship phones. No thanks I'll be looking at the midrange from now on. I used to look at last year's flagship models but with Google limiting OS upgrades to 2 years this rules this option out for me.
Aren't the mid-range phones updated even less than 2 years, I mean look at the Moto phones. I would think that last year's flagship would still be a better buy than mid-range. Maybe I'm wrong.
The OS upgrades have always been limited to 2 years (or more appropriately guaranteed for 2 years). Google was the ones pushing for a minimum of 2 years of support,because in the first few years, some OEMs were abandoning their devices within a year. Now while they say 2 years of updates, it is at the OEM's discretion if they want to push updates beyond that point (the Nexus 7 2013 was a good example of them supporting the device for longer than the 2 year period). But for the most part, 2 years is the most you'll see from any OEM, Google or otherwise. In fact it's a huge deal if an OEM pushes an update after the 2 year mark, and by OEM I'm referring to OEMs other than Google. So it's rather unfair to sign go out Google when other OEMs don't normally support their products any longer than Google does. These other OEMs could at the very least push their monthly security patches out on time, yet most are anywhere from 2 to 6 months behind. Those actually protect customers from malware and other threats, yet OEMs can't seem to be bothered to push them.
Can't wait. Price isn't that bad
Cheaper than the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium at launch IIRC.
I feel good not wanting to pay $600+ dollars for a phone anymore. Call me Mr. Budget :P
$950 for 128gb?
How about no. Google, you and Apple can take your overpriced phones and shove them where the sun don't shine. There are plenty of other manufacturers out there willing to sell us perfectly fine phones for hundreds less. In the meantime I'll keep my OG Pixel, thank you.
You forgot Samsung's Note 8 line, which is in the low to mid $950 range. I have to think long and hard on replacing my Nexus 6P for a clearly more expensive Pixel XL 2, or the aforementioned Note. Already got my wife a Note 8.
Wait why you have to get another phone should the 6P be ok for at least one more year?
It should, but been getting premature shutoffs lately (even before the Oreo upgrade). I even did a factory reset, but no dice. It's already been repaired/replaced once when it bootlooped while under warranty.
I am having the same issues with my 6p. My phone is 10 months out of warranty I called Google today explained the issue. And they are sending out a new pixel XL as a replacement. You should be able to do the same as long as you bought your 6p through Google.
I was going to say the same thing. It's difficult to compare the Note to the Pixel because they have very different software philosophies, but at least with the Note, you know what you're paying the huge price tag for, the S-Pen and dual camera. With the Pixel XL 128GB, it's $20 more than the Note, no S-Pen (obviously to some the S-Pen is useless but then they can get the S8+ with current pricing at $750). Anyway, last year it was also overpriced and it sold more than they could deliver, unless they purposely limited production.
So if I buy the 128gb xl and keep it for two years and not buy two phones every year, I save money :)
It feels like they're pricing this off of iphones. Last year's pixels were exactly at the same price points as the iphone 7 and 7+. This year's Pixel 2 XL will actually be bigger than the 8+, so going off of the $799 of that device, they're adding another $50 because 2 XL will have a bigger, edge-to-edge screen.
Yeah the price point is high but wasn't last years pixel XL 32GB?
yes
They lost me when they did away with nexus
Why the had LG do the XL and NOT include its awesome wide angle camera is beyond me. Unless this is a wide angle camera that is able to somehow crop in for normal mode, its probably going to be a no from me and I will end up just getting the V30.
To add to your point, apparently they took the squeeze gesture introduced by HTC and made LG add that to the XL. Let's see now, which is preferable, the wide angle camera, or a squeeze gesture??
In an Autumn full of dissapointments, the Note 8 delivered.
>iPhone Notch
>Pixel XLing the price
>LG V30 "coming soon"
>Essential ... busted camera/features
Meanwhile the Note8 is just out here murkin it.
Unfortunately the note 8 looks and feels like a cheap piece of s
Not even close but feel free to pout in the corner.
Wrong.
Umm..........huh? Even the most vicious Samsung haters usually can admit that Samsung has a great feel to their devices, even if you hate the glass. There's plenty to bash with Samsung if you want to be reasonable, but the feel and design of their devices is not one of them.
You're lying.
I agree. Looks like a cheap box. And way too tall. How big do they think pockets are anyway?
The Pixel fails because of the price but the Note delivers even though it costs more?
You crack me up
You forgot no headphone jack for the Pixel 2... ( Well I guess that's still TBD?)
I find the Galaxy line feels cheap and that awful bloatware
I think the biggest factor in this price (and last year's) is the premium appearance (not the physical looks but the way people view its place in the market).
If Google shipped these phones at $100-200 cheaper than the Galaxy s8 and iPhone 8, then people would view them as cheaper products. By pricing them the same as the iPhone, they put them in the same class.
Ultimately though I think these prices are always a bit overdramatized. I bought my Pixel XL for $435 from Verizon on a carrier deal and boight my Galaxy s8 from Best buy for $420. Just wait for a deal to pop up and you'll be fine.
I think your right - they should be $100 to $200 cheaper than the iPhone and Samsungs phones.
But I don't think Google is into capturing the market share right now.
I like the frequent updates - no bloatware - integration with Google Services etc.
For me - the new Pixels, Essential phone, and Android One has my attention. Huawei 10, LG V30 and Samsung phones are competitive (got to admit - those are very impressive), but I would be making sacrifices...
To me frequent updates are essential, prudent. And I am being polite. Extremely.
Definitely agree. I love the features and design of Samsung and LG phones but really want frequent updates. I actually sold my Pixel to buy the GS8 since I thought Samsung had been doing a great job rolling out security updates. I'm ok with waiting for Oreo drive Samsung has so many features even without it. However now it's 9/19 and no sign of the September security update so we'll see...
Also include the $99 insurance and tax :)
Sweet, only $1200 or so after tax and insurance for me.
You could probably get free interest going through Google financing
Just wait for a deal. IDK if you're stuck in a carrier contact or not but Black Friday will probably have some great deals. I'm hoping TMobile will have the same deal as last year where you can buy a Pixel from Google and they'll pay off half of it for you if you get their service.
Thought the pixel 2 xl had a dual cam setup?
Not a single rumour I've seen has suggested that would be the case.
The problem with the Pixels is they now want to charge flagship prices but they offer very few of the features offered by other manufacturers flagship devices so you don't feel like you are getting value for money. If they want to compete with Samsung, LG etc then they need to start making super slick phones and stand out hardware wise as stock Android will never compete with the features others pack in software wise.
I think Google need to go back to their roots, reasonably priced Nexus phones that Android enthusiasts can root and use custom ROMs and other users can use them for being a decent phone at an affordable price. Getting other manufacturers to make phones and sticking stock Android on them doesn't really cut it anymore in my opinion unless the price is right,
Features......bloatware
Subjective
I agree. I hate that water resistance bloatware that the kids are into these days.
Thing is, water resistance has nothing to do with the software, which is what bloatware is referring too :)
Well all the rumours have been that the second generation Pixels will have that anyway.
It's only bloatware if it's not useful to you and not worth the performance hit, and even Samsung has improved a lot in terms of performance. Personally, I prefer a slightly slower Samsung than a super quick Pixel because I love some of Samsung's unique features / bloatware, like the S-Pen, Samsung Pay, and more. But to each his/her own.
That'd be nice, but Google wants to make money on hardware now. They're not going to go back to the low-margin mid-range market.
So the pixel 2 will be 5.6 inches with bezels. The pixel 2 XL will be a 6 inch phone with minimal bezels. Won't they end up being the same size device? 5.5 is the sweet spot for me but I'll be pissed if they are the same size
All the rumours and reports are that the Pixel 2 will be a 5" 16:9 display, same as the original one.
The 2 XL is rumoured to be a 6" 2:1 display, which is the same width as a 5.5" 16:9. So if 5.5" 16:9 is your sweet spot, it's the 2XL you want.
Am I the only one whom isn't a fan of the design on the pixels? And that price point lol
The white one looks good
I agree. Love the white. Love the price way less....
Agreed!
Pretty disappointed Google started phone Wireless Charging which is awesome, and dropped it off.. Now Apple is re-inventing Wireless Charging, seriously Google!!! Lack of Wireless charging, dual cameras which is standard at such price point and OIS is a deal breaker at this point, also if the leaks are true about the shape of the smaller Pixel 2, Google will succeed in creating the Ugliest Small Factor phone with the largest bezel this year. Likely will get an LG V30, though I'll miss faster updates, and Google's photo storing unlimited 4K videos which only works with the Pixel!
Expecting this year's Pixel 2 sales to be a flop, unfortunately!
Apple reinventing wireless charging? I hope you're being sarcastic! They're using Qi standard chargers, and they're not even doing any form of fast charging from what I've read. There's a difference between adding and reinventing.
Will the Pixel XL2 ship with headphones with built in assistance ($100) to make up $200 difference from the Pixel 2?
That was a rhetorical question?
does anyone think it may come with dual sims?
Nope.... None of their phones have had dual sim, and given that North American carriers will be selling it, consider it a guarantee.
I don't think anyone thinks that.
This makes me wonder how much the smaller ones would be. The white one looks pretty cool though.
Looks like one of those two colored erasers.
Just got my hands on my N6Pixel replacement. Thank God I haven't paid real money for this. Absolutely not worth the asking price. The Canadian pricing for the Pixel XL 2 is going to be EPIC.
$1099 and $1249 I'm guessing.
Pretty much the Australian price. Far too Expensive for what it is. Note8 would be better choice. Waiting for Nokia9 to come out and compare.
Another ugly pixel?
Looks like a 2007 iPhone turned upside down...will have to see in person.
Good luck, Google. You'e going to need it.
I can't say I'm surprised by an $850 starting price. That's what I was expecting for the XL. Doesn't matter to me anyway because Google's only gonna get me to consider coughing that much up if they back out of their exclusivity deal with Verizon. So, I figure I'm in the clear. Nevertheless, I'm really looking forward to watching them try to differentiate the Pixels from the 2017 pack leaders (and justify their price tag). They better have big sleeves and a whole lot still stuffed up inside 'em.
Man, I think with 2 yr contracts, people could get top of the line devices and hide behind the $200-$400 up front cost while the rest was hidden in the bill. But now, even though you pay even less up front (just taxes) seeing the rest on your bill or on a credit card or shelling out the cash...$700 to $1200 for a phone?! What does this year's phones do, that last year's phones do not do?! Can't do it. Guess I'm back to second hand devices or waiting for best buy to have a sale. (currently rocking Moto Z from BB $10/month for 24 mo sale)
I am sticking with my Pixel XL for another 2 years. I am happy with it and just can't justify updating a phone every year. Mature market now so not much wow factor to the new phones.
wow! that is too expensive for me. These prices are getting out of hand for real. I was considering this phone but with that price I'll wait for the LV V30.
Hopefully the price is right. If not then I don't know where to go but my 6P is ready to retire.
I'm out. Spent enough on high end phones. The value just isn't there. Too many good cheap units for sale these days. I'm done bleeding money for this crap.
High end and value never mix
Why is it so hard to make a white phone, dammit.
Even the two-tone black looks silly in the picture.
Gross.
I'm glad I got the Note 8 instead.
Meh. For that price I'm glad I'm typing this on a Note 8. Pixel may have jumped the shark in the second generation. Sad.
I'd buy the white one just for the orange power button. Reminds me of the old Sony Ericsson Walkman phones of old.
That's just terrible. At least price match the iPhone 8 Plus which starts at 799 for 64 Gigabytes! It would've been great if it started at 128 gigs than 64.
Can't wait to see the excuses made to justify this. The phone is overpriced for what you'll get, just like the first gen. I guess Google is trying to provide an Android alternative to the iPhone. Price it like it has all the features first and slowly add them in over time. Thankful there is an HTC, LG, Samsung, Moto and One Plus out there making good stuff with more bang for the buck.
Well since no one mentioned it, was up with the orange looking power button?
I think the orange button is going to match the speaker grill on the front.
That would be cool. Reminds me of the original HTC EVO. I loved the design. Black phone eith red accents. The camera has a red ring, the kickstand was red and when you took of the back plate the interior was red.
Might as well get the Note 8 or Dare I said the iPhone X
**** this. Why SHOULDN'T I just go with a nicely priced OnePlus or Xperia XZ1 Compact or something else high end but much, much cheaper than this?
The answer is, you probably should. The only way to counter this price gouging is not to buy into it.
If LG V30 can beat this, iPhone X, Mate 10, Note 8 in pricing then they will sell a lot of phones. Just like last year when the Pixel came out, seemed very high priced and to be honest, there are a lot of good capable phones in the market today. Who really cares about bezel-less phones anyway? Good camera, good sound processing, good speakers, good battery life and consistent updates would get my vote over some then bezels...
Guess I'll be using my 5x until its update support ends.
I hope at that price point they offer a trade-in like Samsung did with the Note 8. 50% off with a valid trade-in should suffice and retain my business!
Random thought. I don't even know if this is possible, but what if the camera actually had a 2x optical zoom? Would that alleviate people's worries about not having a dual camera setup?
I have to wait and get a used one
I wonder if the two sizes have the exact same design language. Looks are subjective, and I know some like the contrast between the metal and glass, but it never really suited me. I would never expect a Pixel to have removable storage because, well, Google. However, having no cellular signal and no secure WiFi is something that happens to me daily. Headphone jack, or the lack thereof, is not confirmed 100%. Now, with Google working so closely with HTC, and HTC being the only company who has breakthrough tech for USB C audio, it's possible they may license it to Google. If they do, then it'll be a real treat for Pixel owners, as $200 Sennheisers or Sony studio headphones on an external amp don't sound as good as USonic. But I suspect that it's far more likely that Google will either have no 3.5 jack and no special USB C audio, or they will have a standard 3.5 jack (which is the better option out of the two).
So even though I'm not in the market for another phone, right now, I'm still interested in what features they my introduce.
Bwahahaha, only suckers, rubes and idiots will pay that much for this phone. And you don't even get any of the supposed status of an iPhone (another sucker bait), because no one will recognize a Pixel phone as anything different from a 200-buck generic Android.
I know I'll be getting one >>>>Sucker. Plus it will let me give my current XL to my best friend, she is on my old 6P at the moment and the battery isn't the best.