Daily Authority: 💲 Pixel 7 on eBay

📈 Good morning! Keep reading for a guide to The Great Return…

Get a Pixel 7 on eBay?

The Pixel 7 series isn’t a secret given Google has already announced it. But there’s a leaked prototype (or several) available on eBay which is pretty wild.

Here’s how it looks:

• An eBay listing was put up selling a Pixel 7 prototype, which is weird enough.
• But the photos in the listing of the Pixel 7 seem like they were taken by a 7 Pro, if the reflections are accurate.

What?

• Exactly. This is really weird.
• The listing has since been taken down (presumably Google got in touch?) but the photos and listing details were all captured and archived, of course, with one of Android’s finest reporters, Mishaal Rahman, all over it.
• Those details include the model number (GUV6C) and interestingly enough, the full unique prototype logo/code on the back of the phone (the lines and shapes) on the back. (It looks a bit like an arrow with a half-circle above it.)
• It looks pretty beat up, it must be said.
• All 10 photos are on Imgur (the last image has some unrelated elements plus the model).
• And just to keep things straight, here’s an official image to refresh your memory about the 7 (with two camera lenses) and 7 Pro (with three):

What else:

• In the description, the seller said or claimed that the supposed Pixel 7 was running Android 13, with 128GB/8GB RAM, and it was being sold as is with “no guarantees of any sort.” The listing was from McKinney, Texas.
• The leak seems to confirm that the device will lose the matte black frame that the Pixel 6 had, which is what it is.
• The Verge managed to get in touch with the seller, and said, “the seller claims they bought the Pixel 7 prototype from a wholesaler without knowing what it was. The seller says they realized it was a Pixel 7 after doing research and seeing pictures that seemed like the phone they had. They also say they had a Pixel 7 Pro, but sold it already.”
• Alright. Maybe we need to hang out around wholesalers more often.
• Anyway, the 7 series with its next-gen Google Tensor chip is not due out for some months yet — after summer, maybe even October.
• So this is really early, though leaks from Google are not at all rare.
• We had the weird/planted Pixel Watch just over a month ago, and early prototypes and devices making their way into the hands of keen enthusiasts long before launch.
• There’s also a possible “Pixel Ultra” leak emerging too — see the links below!

Roundup

🤔 Hints drop via code-sleuthing for a new Google Pixel line we’ve never seen before. Not the Pixel foldable, so maybe a Pixel Ultra? (Android Authority).

⌚ Xiaomi Mi Band 7 Pro leaks: A souped-up version on the way? (Android Authority).

👉 vivo X80 Pro review: vivo’s best, (mostly) refined (Android Authority).

💡 “I bought an ultrawide monitor for productivity, and here’s what I learned” (Android Authority).

🍎 Cydia’s court case against Apple over support for third-party app stores will go ahead, and be heard by the same judge who oversaw the Epic vs. Apple trial, that’s in appeals (9to5Mac).

🍏 Here’s a high-resolution CT scan of an iPod with commentary from iPod co-creator Tony Fadell (scanofthemonth.com)

👉 Maybe you like chips, and museums, and therefore, like the sound of Intel’s virtual tour of its Santa Clara museum. It’s actually okay, especially if you really like Intel (Intel).

🚁 Another day, another NASA Mars helicopter epic view of the red planet during another record flight (CNET).

🎮 Living in Germany, a lot of English words are used as technical terms for new tech. Not in France! “France officially bans English gaming terms like ‘eSports’ and ‘streaming’” (Engadget).

⛈️ “Can a person’s aching joints actually predict a storm?” (r/askreddit). (Yes!)

Chart Tuesday

Huh, I’m not sure I expected quite this much return-to-the-office momentum?:

Via Statista:

• “According to April 2022 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Population Survey, 7.7% of employed persons 16 and older in the US had been working at home or remotely at some point in the past four weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic, the lowest point by far since Covid-19 hit the country in the spring of 2020.”

• As it says on the chart, note that this doesn’t include people who already worked remotely, pre-pandemic.

Cheers,

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor.