ALPHABET

Google Takes The Leap Into Wireless Charging With The New Pixel Stand

Google’s next flagship phone, the Pixel 3 is coming. There’s a lot of hype for this phone because the Pixel devices are generally known for their excellent camera quality. So much so that the Pixel 2’s camera still manage to beat many flagship devices in 2018. Then there’s the stock Android experience and fast updates from Google, which makes it even more lucrative for Android enthusiasts.
Google generally releases some hardware accessories with their phones, we recently saw the Pixel Buds. There were also the Google Home and other smart products. After several leaks we probably know pretty much everything about the Pixel 3 XL, to the extent that sites like Rozetked managed to get an early build and posted pictures taken from the device which we reported here.
But until recently we didn’t have any information about other hardware accessories which might come from Google. Although we have a new leak today, about the Pixel Stand coming from MySmartPrice.
So we did see early renders of the Pixel Stand, looking at the dimensions, a lot of people speculated it to be some sort of a wireless charging dock. Which seems to holding up with the recent leak.
If you take a closer look, you can see the device is rated at 9V 2A. It’s not quite similar to some of the faster wireless chargers out there, but we will have to wait for more information on that. There also seems to be a type – C connector.
Also this is Google’s first take on a wireless charger, they did state last year that wireless chargers weren’t fast enough to be a viable option for their phones. But it seems that opinion has changed, either because Google has made faster Wireless Chargers or because now it’s an expected feature in flagship devices and everyone’s doing it.


Developers from XDA also accessed the new UI screen, which will show up when a Pixel device is docked on the Pixel Stand. You can see there are quick notification tabs for easy access. There’s also a separate space for Google Assistant at the bottom. The stand will hold the Pixel 3 in a upright position given it’s shape, so the UI will certainly help in easier access. Hopefully there will be a very nice ambient mode, because the Pixel 3 will be coming with an Amoled display. Like every smart accessory, you will have to set up the Pixel Stand as a trusted device for enabling some of the intricate features.
The model number here on the Pixel Stand is listed as G019C, which is quite similar to the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL’s model numbers, G013A and G013C respectively.
Pricing isn’t really known at this point, but if I have to guess, it should be well above $150 USD. It will probably launch with the new Pixel phones where we will get more details.



Indranil Chowdhury