Stunning Google Pixel 5 video shows off the flagship we really want

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Bezels get shrunk in this Pixel 5 concept design

Pixel 5 concept
(Image credit: Incosive Labs/YouTube)

It's the Pixel 4a's turn to make its debut on Monday (Aug. 3), at least according to a teaser at Google's online store. But that doesn't mean the Pixel 5 is still on the back-burner.

A new trailer showing off a concept design for Google's next flagship phone has popped up on YouTube, courtesy of Incosive Labs. And it looks a lot like a phone that Mountain View would be happy to release.

That may sound like a backhanded compliment, as past Pixel flagships haven't always delivered the design goods, despite their other strengths. But the Incosive Labs concept design shows off a phone that eliminates some of our lingering complaints about the Pixel's look.

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For starters, the Pixel 5 in this concept video has very minimal bezels. That's a change from the Pixel 4, which still maintained a slight bezel at the top of the phone to house both the front camera and the sensors need for Google's Motion Sense feature. But with that gesture control feature reportedly on the chopping block for the Pixel 5, that would free up Google to use a punch-hole camera cutout in the phone's display while further shrinking the bezels. And that's what Incosive Labs did with its concept design.

We hope Google gets a little livelier with the colors on the Pixel 5 than what we see in this video. We have no problem with the black and white options, and the video even adds Google-like accents to the power button. But past Pixel models have also included colors like Oh-So Orange and Not Pink, and we hope the Pixel 5 retains that sense of playfulness.

If you blanched at the oversized camera array on early Pixel 5 concept designs, this video should ease your concerns. We get a more conventional square array — well, conventional for phones these days — that's located in the upper left corner of the back of the phone. That array houses two camera lenses and a flash, and it's no more obtrusive than what you'll see on existing phones like the iPhone 11 Pro.

The Incosive Labs video rattles off a bunch of potential specs, which seem based on rumors we've heard so far about the Pixel 5. This phone would feature a 90Hz display — a holdover feature from the Pixel 4 — and those two lenses on the back would be dual 12-megapixel wide and ultra wide cameras; the front camera is a 12MP shooter as well. As has been rumored elsewhere, this phone features a Snapdragon 765G chipset, which would let Google keep the cost down while still offering 5G connectivity. Matching a recent Google price survey, the video lists the Pixel 5's starting price at $699.

Will this design turn out to be close to what Google actually has in the works for the Pixel 5? We're going to see the Pixel 4a first, but once that lower cost phone ships, expect rumors about the Pixel 5 to heat up in advance of the flagship phone's fall launch.

Philip Michaels
Philip Michaels

Philip Michaels is a Managing Editor at Tom's Guide. He's been covering personal technology since 1999 and was in the building when Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone for the first time. He's been evaluating smartphones since that first iPhone debuted in 2007, and he's been following phone carriers and smartphone plans since 2015. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics, old movies and proper butchery techniques. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.