GOOGLE PIXEL 6 PRO

Google is back on the flagship camera phone map

- Basil Kronfli

store.google.com £849/$899

The Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro were announced months ago – in fact, the phones themselves were secondary announcements to that of Tensor, Google’s new chipset, which replaces Qualcomm’s chips in this new flagship line. With a global silicon shortage having been on the cards for a while, it’s little wonder that Google, like Apple, is bringing its chip-making in-house. But that isn’t the only new thing about the Pixel 6 line – not by a long shot.

The two new Pixels feature shiny, sleek, novel designs. There’s a raised camera strip around the back, akin to Geordi La Forge’s visor from Star Trek; and, unlike the Pixel 5, the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro are Gorilla Glass and metal delights. Add a new 50MP image sensor across both phones and a periscope zoom camera on the Pixel 6 Pro, not to mention the return of an ultra-wide selfie camera, and it’s clear that Google isn’t settling for mid-range mediocrity this time around.

The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro are also aggressively priced – arguably a first for the Pixel line. Rather than being pitched at the level of the iPhone 13 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, the Pixel 6 Pro competes more closely with the OnePlus 9 Pro, despite the fact that it (like the OnePlus), offers flagship internals – 12GB RAM and 128GB storage – and power.

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