Pixel 7 Pro prototype seemingly confirms some specs, reveals new details

Kyle Bradshaw | Jun 24 2022 - 12:15 pm PT

A prototype model of the Pixel 7 Pro has been analyzed for new details about its hardware, as well as seemingly confirming some previously reported specs.

In the last few months, a small handful of pre-release prototypes of the Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro have managed to get out into the wild. Google has caught on to most of the leaked units and remotely wiped them, leaving them unusable (bricked) and preventing the full spec sheet of either phone from being discovered ahead of their formal launch later this year.

An owner of one such bricked prototype contacted the owners of the “Google News” group on Telegram. The group then used the limited amount of information available to them — specifically the logs that are generated when trying to boot up the phone, as well as the code of the bootloader itself — to dig up some additional specs about the Pixel 7 Pro.

For starters, we may now have our first details about the CPU cores used by the Pixel 7’s GS201 chip. According to the post, the second generation Tensor chip should continue to use a “4+2+2” design, as seen on the first Tensor. In that design, there are four low-end cores for simple tasks, two mid-level cores, and two high-power CPU cores that handle the brunt of the work.

No details have been discovered related to the mid- and high-level cores of the Tensor 2, but it’s claimed that the Pixel 7 series’ chip will use the same Cortex A55 cores for the low-level tasks. The group cites a line in the boot logs that suggests a workaround is being applied that is solely used for chips with Cortex A55 cores.

Other newly uncovered details include that the Pixel 7 Pro should be equipped with a Cirrus Logic CS40L26 chip for haptics, one generation newer than what’s found in the Pixel 6 Pro. Meanwhile, where last year’s phone had STMicroelectronics ST54K NFC hardware that also included UWB connectivity, the logs point to simpler hardware, ST21NFC, which doesn’t have UWB. It’s likely that UWB will be handled by a different component.

This latest round of digging into the Pixel 7 Pro prototype was also able to corroborate our findings on codenames of in-development Google Pixel devices including Ravenclaw and Felix, though there was reportedly no sign of the “Lynx” codename.

Lastly, the group claims that the Pixel 7 Pro prototype’s specs show the Samsung S6E3HC4 display panel, which is one generation newer than the display in the Pixel 6 Pro. Our earlier report about the displays used in the Pixel 7 series showed that Google is preparing to either use that newer display or continue using the same one from last year.

Regardless of which display ends up in retail models of the Pixel 7 Pro this fall, at least one upgrade will be in place. As spotted by Dylan Raga (via Mishaal Rahman), the code for both potential Pixel 7 Pro displays includes a higher maximum brightness of 1000 nits, in high brightness mode, versus 800 in last year’s phone.

Overall, while these specs may be quite interesting to enthusiasts, they don’t tell us much about how the Pixel 7 Pro will perform in the real world. Additionally, as the device being analyzed is technically still a prototype, regardless of how far along it may seem, there’s potential for some of these minute details to change ahead of launch.