“Google does not need a smartphone maker for design and production Pixel 3”

Google has reportedly asked Foxconn subsidiary FIH to produce the Pixel 3 models. This means that there is no longer a manufacturer among the Google phones. The Pixel 2 is from HTC, the Pixel 2 XL from LG.

This time, the phones are only from Google, WinFuture reports. Supposedly, the search giant is working with the team that acquired it from HTC. In a deal with the smartphone maker, Google got about two thousand people from HTC’s R&D department for $ 1.1 billion. As a result, it no longer needs the expertise of HTC or LG.

Google is working on a Pixel 3 and a Pixel 3 XL, Bloomberg reports. According to the financial news agency, the Pixel 3 has a design similar to the Pixel 2, while the XL version has a larger display with a notch. That notch is narrower, but higher than that of the iPhone X, according to the financial news agency. Recently, pictures of screen protectors came out that pointed to this.

The search giant would like to release the phones in October, Bloomberg says. That wouldn’t come as a surprise, since Google both unveiled the Pixel and Pixel 2 devices on October 4; the Pixel in 2016 and Pixel 2 in 2017. WinFuture thinks the release could come earlier, in August or September. Google has not responded to the rumours.

Impression of what the Pixel 3 phones might look like. Source: PhoneDesigner