TL;DR
- Photos of the Google Pixel “needlefish” have leaked online.
- Once rumored to be a Pixel 4 family member, the device sported a Snapdragon 855 with an X55 modem and 8GB of RAM.
- It’s likely the device was merely a tool for Google to evaluate and learn about 5G before more mature hardware was available.
The Google Pixel series is notoriously prone to leaks. Typically, we know everything about the next Pixel phones months before their announcement, but occasionally, the odd rumored device never arrives, leaving us with a mystery. This was the case with the canceled first-gen Pixel Fold, codenamed “pipit,” for example, until we showcased what it was last year.
Another of these mysteries is the alleged third flagship Pixel 4 device, codenamed “needlefish.” There were many theories about what it could be, but we had never seen any concrete details, until now. Thanks to a photo leak and our sources, we’ve managed to get to the bottom of what the mysterious handset was.