It's been a very leaky week for the Pixel 9a

Google's having a hard time keeping the Pixel 9a under wraps. We've seen a ton of leaks about Google's upcoming midranger this week, from colorways to a potential release date. We even got a look at the phone's wallpapers. But that's not all: we also learned that Android 16 is launching with a convention-breaking (but still on-theme) codename, and that it could make its way to our phones sooner than we thought. Here's this wee's Google news you need to know.

Pixel 9a leaks all over

Source: OnLeaks / Android Headlines

We ate well on Pixel 9a leaks this week. We got new info about all things 9a: we saw new renders, got a peek at color options, learned the 9a's potential release window, and even saw the upcoming phone's wallpapers.

The latest renders come from OnLeaks by way of Android Headlines. They're in keeping with what we've seen so far: the 9a will apparently be a relatively plain slab with no camera bump to speak of, but a flush, pill-shaped window for two cameras instead. Losing the camera bar does take away from the established Pixel visual identity a bit, but I'm pretty tired of camera bumps, so I see it as a victory of function over form.

Leaked dimensions, again from OnLeaks and Android Headlines, show that the 9a will be just a touch taller and wider than the 8a, but also thinner. The 9a will allegedly measure 154 x 73 x 8.6mm, while the 8a is 152.1 x 72.7 x 8.9mm. It'll reportedly be available in four colors: the established Porcelain and Obsidian options, along with Peony (presumably a bright reddish-pink, like the Pixel 9), and Iris, which will reportedly be a blue-violet shade.

Android Authority got its hands on eight wallpapers that will supposedly ship on the 9a, including a light and dark version corresponding to each of the colorways listed above. (Full-resolution versions are available in this Google Drive folder.)

If the recent cadence of leaks makes it sound to you like the 9a must be pretty far into development, you're probably right. Again as reported by Android Headlines, the Pixel 9a will be on store shelves earlier than previous A-Series Pixels: AA's sources say that the 9a will be available in March 2025, a couple of months ahead of the typical May.

Latest development

The Google Pixel 9a could hit store shelves earlier than usual

The Pixel 9a is said to be on the fast track

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Multimodal search comes to Google Lens

Google Lens picked up a flashy new video search feature this week. Now, Search Labs participants can press and hold on the shutter button in Google Lens to record a video. You're also able to speak while recording to ask questions about what you're looking at. When you release the shutter button, Lens tries to parse your video and audio input and answer your questions with an AI summary.

Video search actually rolled out before Google officially announced it was coming. If you're interested in trying it out, you can sign up for Google's Search Labs program.

Latest development

You can sign up to try the new Google Lens video search right now

The feature spotted earlier this week is a Search Labs exclusive

Android 16 could be a spring release

We also learned a fair amount about Android 16 this week. It seems like the upcoming Android version is going to break with Google's traditional naming convention, for one. Beginning with Android 1.5 Cupcake, each successive version has been codenamed after a sweet whose first letter was the next in the alphabet: 2.0 Donut, 2.2 Eclair, et cetera. Android 15 is Vanilla Ice Cream, so we'd expect Android 16 to be codenamed for a dessert starting with W.

Apparently not. Again reporting for Android Authority, Mishaal Rahman writes that Android 16 will be codenamed Baklava. The change is apparently rooted in Google's adoption of trunk-based development for Android, which began with Android 14 QPR2 last year and corresponded with a new build ID naming pattern.

Rahman also reported for Android Authority this week that, partially due to that trunk-based development, Android 16 may be finished earlier than we would've expected. While Google has typically released new Android versions each fall for the past several years, Android 16 may roll out in the second quarter of 2025.

Latest development

Android 16 is reportedly way ahead of schedule

A Q2, 2025 release might be on the cards

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Google (finally?) puts ads in its AI

Google's found a way to leverage its AI ambitions as another canvas for online ads. The company announced this week that AI Overviews, the AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of many Google searches, will now contain advertisements where relevant. Google uses the example of ads for stain removers showing up in an AI Overview outlining how to get grass stains out of clothing.

The ads are clearly labeled as Sponsored, but it's still hard to see the change as positive for anyone but Google and its advertising partners. If you'd Googled how to get grass stains out of your shirt five or 10 years ago, you likely would've ended up on a website that explained how to do it while also displaying ads that generated revenue for the site providing you that service.

In Google's example, AI Overviews show information scraped from websites like that, bypassing the advertisements that paid for the people who gathered the information, wrote the steps out, and published that information to the web. Advertisers will pay Google for ad space in the AI Overview that repackages that type of human-generated content into a summary. Bleak.

Full story

Google's AI Overviews take one step forward and two steps back

Ads arrive as Google's sourcing finally improves

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Google Home probably isn't getting Find My Device functionality, after all

Many users reported this week that their Pixel Buds Pro 2 and Pixel Watch 3 devices were showing up in the Google Home app under a heading reading Linked to you. The devices display as being "Offline," but tapping their icons opens a settings page that presents the option to unlink the devices from the Google Find My Device network. This got a lot of people — AP included— talking about Google Home picking up Find My Device functionality.

Apparently it was all a mistake. 9to5Google has reported that the Linked to you section showing up in Google Home was a bug, and a future update will remove devices like the Pixel Buds Pro 2 from Google Home. Weird, but maybe less weird than a Google Home x Find My Device mashup would have been.

Latest development

Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Buds Pro 2 are getting evicted from Google Home

Find My Device is the proper place for them

Android could soon get built-in location sharing

As spotted by noted Android tinkerer AssembleDebug, Google Maps's location sharing functionality may soon be baked into the Android OS. According to screenshots shared by AssembleDebug, the ability to share your real-time location will soon be pulled out of Maps to be a system-level function. You'll also apparently be able to manage who you're sharing your location with right from your device's settings, without having to open Google Maps at all.

Full story

Google Maps location sharing is almost ready to become a built-in Android feature

Location sharing settings are in for an overhaul

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Wear OS is getting standalone RCS support

LTE-enabled Wear OS watches are able to send and receive messages when you're away from your phone, but there's one problem: Wear OS doesn't currently offer native support for RCS, meaning any messages you send when you're not within Bluetooth range of your phone will be SMS-based.

Again according to AssembleDebug, the latest beta version of Google Messages for Wear OS contains code that suggests native RCS is in the works (one string reads "bugle.enable_wear_standalone_rcs," which seems pretty cut and dry). We're not sure when to expect the feature to roll out, but at least we know it's being worked on.

Full story

Your Wear OS watch might unshackle itself from a phone for RCS chats

Standalone Google Messages for LTE smartwatches

Pixel Buds Pro 2 have been hiding Auracast support

We're big fans of Google's Pixel Buds Pro 2, and apparently, they'll eventually get even better. Android scoop machine Mishaal Rahman reported for Android Authority this week that the Buds Pro 2 support Auracast, a Bluetooth feature that allows multiple listening devices to connect to a single source device to listen to the same audio.

Google hasn't advertised Auracast as a Buds Pro 2 feature, presumably because the feature is planned as part of Android 15, which is yet to roll out in stable. Still, Rahman was able to get Auracast working on the Pixel Buds Pro 2 with a little elbow grease, so we expect we'll hear Google talk more about this around the official Android 15 rollout.

Related

Pixel Buds Pro 2 could finally get the Bluetooth feature we've all been waiting for

Auracast support might finally be on its way

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