Google announces Pixel 5a 5G coming this year
Washington, US: Just hours after several reports claimed that Google's Pixel 5a 5G has been cancelled due to chip shortage, the tech giant has shot down the rumours, stating that the handset will launch later this year. As per The Verge, after rumours of the phone being cancelled surfaced, a Google spokesperson squashed the news and released a statement, sharing when will the phone launch. "Pixel 5a 5G is not cancelled. It will be available later this year in the U.S. and Japan and announced in line with when last year's a-series phone was introduced," the spokesperson stated. Yesterday, Android Central cited two independent sources claiming the Pixel 5a had been cancelled, following a tweet from Jon Prosser stating it was due to chip shortages. It does appear that the chip shortages are real, however, as Google is only planning to release the Pixel 5a 5G in the US and Japan.
The rumours about the Pixel 5a 5G point to it being somewhat similar to the Pixel 4a 5G -- another lower-end phone designed to broaden Google's market reach by keeping the cost down. Code pointing to the existence of the Pixel 5a has been seen in the Android Open Source Project as early as July 2020. The Pixel 5a 5G is expected to be similar (but not identical) in size to the Pixel 4A 5G, with a 6.2-inch FHD+ display, dual rear cameras, and a headphone jack.
Google's statement said it will be announced "in line with when last year's a-series phone was introduced," which was in August 2020. However, many have speculated that it would be announced at this year's online-only Google I/O developer conference alongside a lower-cost version of the Pixel Buds. Google is also rumoured to be creating a higher-end flagship Pixel phone later this year. Assumed to be the Pixel 6, the big deal with that rumoured phone is that it will begin to use more Google-designed chips, including the so-called "Whitechapel" system on a chip. Google has a history of just admitting it has phones to announce in response to rumours. Back in 2019, it famously tweeted out an image of the Pixel 4 after it started to leak in earnest.
