More Pixel 8a details and pics leak – Google better hurry up and launch the phone

The Google Pixel 8a is expected to be formally unveiled in the coming weeks and a flurry of leaks have seen this new mid-price handset laid bare. The latest complete the set, detailing just about every aspect of the phone – except the elusive release date.

The details come from Evan Blass - evleaks - who has shared a number of translated screen shots on X/Twitter. These appear to be the official Google Store pages from Japan. While there's no launch date confirmed, there is a minor detail that says there will be a discount running from 14 May to 20 June.

It just so happens that Google I/O starts on 14 May, so this detail appears to confirm previous speculation that the phone would launch during the developers conference.

We've seen a lot of leaks around the mid-range phone, so let's start from the top and recap what is confirmed here. The Pixel 8a will come in four colours – Obsidian, Porcelain, Bay and Mint. It will be IP67 rated and use Gorilla Glass 3 for display protection.

The battery is said to last more than 24 hours, and there's wireless charging too. It will get 7-years of OS updates and security updates and that means you'll get Pixel Drops too, adding new features as the software evolves.

The Pixel 8a is packed full of Google AI

What's most interesting about this leak, however, is the expansion of the software talk. We've already seen a leaked video about the Pixel 8a detailing some of these features, but these are what will make the Pixel 8a stand out from other mid-range devices like the Samsung Galaxy A55.

The Pixel 8a will feature Google AI, and that's going to include Google's smart photo editing functions.

So you'll get Best Take, which allows you to take perfect group photos; Magic Editor, which gives you generative AI powers to edit photos; Magic Eraser, which can make quick minor edits to images; Real Tone, which gives more realistic skin tones in images; and Audio Magic Eraser which can isolate sounds in video and remove them.

Beyond that, the Pixel 8a will feature Circle to Search and there's also mention of Gemini, suggesting you can ask Gemini questions. What's interesting about this latter mention is that normally Google would be pushing Google Assistant, but rumours have suggested that Gemini is going to replace Google Assistant and this leak suggests that might happen on the Pixel 8a.

There's also confirmation through this leak that the Google Pixel 8a will be powered by the Tensor G3 chip, the very same hardware that powers the flagship Google Pixel 8 Pro. What this all amounts to is a very capable phone, packing in a lot of skills that's going to be available for less than flagship prices.

The final price isn't revealed through this leak, but previously it was suggested that the Pixel 8a price would be $499 for the 128GB model and $559 for the 256GB. It's shaping up to be quite the phone - we just wish Google would get on and launch it.