Three mid-range Google Pixel phones may launch this year, but are they coming to India?

As found in AOSP codes, Google might be working on three mid-range Pixel smartphones. These may come to India this year.

Google may launch three mid-range Pixel smartphones in India. (Google)

Google's decision to skip India, one of the largest smartphone markets in the world, for the flagship Pixel 4 and Pixel 4XL phones came a huge disappointment for many. However, the search giant did confirm that it will launch future Pixel smartphones in the country. Although it was not mentioned, there is a general consensus on the web that the rumoured Pixel 4a, which is said to be the toned-down version of the flagship Pixel 4 handsets and follow up of last year's Pixel 3a, might be the one arriving here in India. XDA Developers however, seems to have found some more details on the handset series.

The website reports that there might be at least three mid-range Pixel phones in the making. The hints for it were discovered inside the open-source code for Android, which we usually call AOSP. As per the report, the three Pixel phones are codenamed - sunfish, redfin and bramble. Mind you, Google is usually known to codename its smartphones based on fish names.

Out of the three, 'Sunfish' is claimed to be the rumoured Pixel 4a. The code even revealed the smartphone to be using the upper mid-range processor - Qualcomm Snapdragon 730. This also means no 5G support as Qualcomm only has 5G support in the recently unveiled Snapdragon 765 and the Snapdragon 865.

'Redfin' is said to be the premium device in the trio as it was found to be using Qualcomm's 5G supporting Snapdragon 765 SoC. The device was found to be running Android 10 while the Sunfish was additionally spotted with an Android 11 build in the AOSP codes.

The third rumoured Pixel smartphone codenamed 'Bramble' might also be supporting 5G connectivity as it is also said to run on Qualcomm's brand-new Snapdragon 765 processor. Not much is known about this one.

If the information coming out of AOSP codes are any indication, this might be the first time that Google will be launching as many as three mid-range smartphones in a year. However, the bigger question here is if these will be coming to India or not. After dropping the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4XL smartphones from the country, there might be some hope for fans that at least the less powerful version may launch here if not flagships. If Google really wants to launch its mid-range smartphones in India, in all probability, it will be missing out on the most highlighted feature - motion sensing. The feature requires a certain frequency band to work (60Ghz mmWave), the permission for which was not given by Indian authorities for Pixel 4 and Pixel 4XL.

However, to some extent, launching a mid-range Pixel smartphone in India instead of the flagship one makes sense for the company considering how price sensitive the market is.