Summer is almost here and that means that it is rumor season for the next generation of Pixel phones from Google. The Google Pixel 3 lineup is likely a few months away from being announced but already we are starting to get loads of rumors as to what the phones will look like and now, who will be building them.
Roland Quandt of WinFuture and MobileGeekDE took to Twitter today with a rumor that both the phones in flight for release later this year are to be built by Foxconn.
Google really is going it alone: there are two Google Pixel 3 devices in the works, both based on SDM845. One has “new display hardware”, both are built by Foxconn – not HTC, LG or whomever. Launch timeframe is Aug/Sep 2018. https://t.co/CelnTfO5IB
— Roland Quandt (@rquandt) May 30, 2018
If the rumor is true, this would be a significant shift for Google by cutting out a manufacturing partner and having the phones built directly by Foxconn for themselves.
Previous Nexus and Pixel phone have been built by LG, HTC and Huawei and while the phone designs have always come from Google themselves (for the most part) the manufacturing was carried out by one of these partners. That has been good but has also had some challenges. It looks like the Mountain View company is going to take the matter into their own hands and work directly with Foxconn to build their next phones. Doing so would cut out essentially a 3rd party in the mix and should allow for Google to have a bit tighter control on supply chain, production levels and quality control.
It also appears, based on this new rumor, that the Google Pixel 3 lineup will be running the Snapdragon 845 SoC.
We are still probably two to three months away from the Pixel 3 announcement so rumors like this should be taken for what they are: rumors.
