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Google looks to have added a privacy switch to the Pixel Tablet

A new Pixel Tablet leak suggests that Google has added a privacy switch to the hardware since it was first teased last May at I/O 2022 and again at the Pixel 7 event in October.

SnoopyTech shared two pictures this evening of the front (Snoopy picture photoshopped on) and rear of the Pixel Tablet. The latter image appears to show the addition of a hardware toggle on the left edge near the top. 

This does not appear in any previous image of the Pixel Tablet that Google shared (as seen above). Since the Pixel Tablet doubles as a Smart Display, this in all likelihood is a privacy switch that enables/disables the microphone and/or camera.

This would make for a pretty late addition to the hardware. Given the quality of the images, we cannot see if the switch is on the Facebook Marketplace leak from December 2022.

Top comment by Luke Vesty

Liked by 13 people

I'm keen to see how this turns out. Google has a hit and miss record with hardware. I really want this to be good.

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Moving down the left edge (when looking at the Tablet from the rear), we see two long speaker cutouts that are replicated on the other side, which has a centered USB-C port. We see the power button/fingerprint reader and volume rocker at the top, while the bottom has something that previously went unnoticed but was in previous imagery shared by Google (below).

The Pixel Tablet appears to include two long protrusions on the bottom edge that could be some connection point for a case or possible keyboard accessory. None of these cutouts are visible when looking at the screen head-on.

Lastly, this is a white/light beige Pixel Tablet, and we’ve previously also seen it in a green reminiscent of the Pixel 5. There’s a “premium nanoceramic finish” that gives it a ceramic-like feel.

Google previously said the Pixel Tablet is launching in 2023.

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com