The Pixel Stand arrived on store shelves alongside the Pixel 3, and despite some unique features provided by no other wireless charger, it was still just that — a stand capable of charging your phone. At $79, it was a tough sell even for Google die-hards, though a handful of sales throughout the last few years have made it more accessible. If you’ve been waiting to pick one up, you might want to keep holding your wallet back. A new Pixel Stand might be in the works to pair with the upcoming Pixel 6.
The folks at 9to5Google managed to find some hidden code in last week’s Android 12 Beta 2 release, suggesting a new wireless charger could be on its way. If you were hoping to learn about some big visual change, unfortunately, there’s nothing in that department just yet. However, a few strings of code hint at the inclusion of built-in fans for keeping cool while pumping out some serious power.
Fans wouldn’t be an entirely new concept to wireless charging. It’s something we’ve seen on the 50W OnePlus Warp charger, a gadget five times as powerful as the current Pixel Stand. While there’s no guarantee of a boost that big, it suggests this new charger from Google — codenamed “Luxuryliner” — could be quite a bit faster than the previous model.
Of course, this is Google we’re talking about, which means these fans will sync with Assistant to quiet down while listening to voice commands automatically. The same goes for the Recorder app on the latest Pixel phones, which could disable the fans to let you capture the audio of a room without a loud hiss filling the air. Manual control offers options for toggling between “Auto,” “Quiet,” and “Power Boost” modes, with the latter causing the charger’s fans to spin much faster.
It’s yet another leak that points to Google’s next flagship smartphone aiming for more power than last year’s Pixel 5. Of course, whether a bump in price accompanies all this new charging tech remains to be seen.
Post a Comment