Pixel 4 XL Leak Confirms Big Bezel, No Notch

Google’s track record for Pixel phone secrecy is spotty at best. There are always some leaks here and there, and last year a crate of Pixel 3 XLs “fell off a truck” in Russia. Nothing that informative has happened yet this time around, but there are some new renders of the upcoming Pixel 4 XL.

Unlike in past years, Google isn’t playing dumb with its upcoming phone launch. The company’s Made by Google Twitter account posted a shadowy picture of the phone after the last round of render leaks. That image left a lot to the imagination, but the new leaked render puts it all on display.

This leak comes from OnLeaks, who has been very reliable in the past. OnLeaks gets access to leaked CAD files for phones, and then creates renders based on them. The last Pixel leak featured the smaller Pixel 4, but this time it’s the Pixel 4 XL. This one also includes the screen placement and size, whereas the last leak skipped over that part.

On the front, the Pixel 4 XL reportedly has a 6.25-inch screen that hugs the bottom of the device more closely than the top. There’s no notch, though. The Pixel 3 XL was roundly criticized for the massive notch that ate up about half of the status bar for no good reason — the phone still had a gigantic chin at the bottom. This year, the Pixel avoids that with asymmetrical bezels. Whether that’s an improvement is largely an aesthetic judgment.

The slightly larger top bezel houses two front-facing cameras and two other small sensors of unknown nature. Some combination of cameras or other sensors could form the basis of Google’s rumored 3D face unlock system.

The overall phone body measures 160.4 x 75.2 x 8.2mm. That makes it slightly larger in all dimensions than the Galaxy S10+. So, it’ll be a very big phone. We expect Google to announce the Pixel 4 and 4 XL in October — that’s when all its past Made by Google events have taken place.

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