Skip to main content

Latest Pixel 4 rumors claim 8x zoom, improved Night Sight, and new ‘Motion Mode’

Latest Pixel 4 rumors claim 8x zoom, improved Night Sight, and new ‘Motion Mode’

/

One of the best smartphone cameras is probably getting even better

Share this story

Pixel 4 teaser
Image: Google, re-stitched by @atn1988

Fresh off our best look at the Pixel 4’s hardware, another batch of rumors has cropped up regarding what might be the most important part of the phone: the camera. A pair of leaks claims that the upcoming smartphone will offer 8x zoom, an improved Night Sight feature, and a brand-new “Motion Mode” for shooting action shots, via 9to5Google and XDA Developers.

We’ve known for a while that the Pixel 4 would have two rear cameras (a first for the product line): a 12-megapixel lens and a 16-megapixel telephoto lens. But these leaks are the first to detail the new capabilities of what those lenses will be able to do, with Google’s smartphones historically relying as much (if not more) on the company’s advanced image processing and AI tools for its incredible photos as it does camera hardware.

Google is reportedly betting big on the camera again

According to 9to5Google, that trend will continue on the Pixel 4, with the addition of a new “Motion Mode” as a headline feature. The new shooting mode is said to allow for sports and action shots, with “moving subjects in the foreground and blurry backgrounds,” similar to what you’d get off a high-end DSLR or mirrorless camera. Presumably, Google’s using a fair amount of machine learning and AI tools to generate those effects, just like the way it does portrait mode shots on existing Pixel hardware.

Also said to be in the works is an improved Night Sight mode, which will bring improved speeds to the already impressive feature. Google is also reportedly planning to show off the Pixel 4’s capabilities for astrophotography specifically, which could tie into the last major rumor: an 8x zoom mode, as seen in leaked images found by XDA Developers on Weibo.

Presumably, that 8x zoom is some combination of optical zoom and Google’s Super Res Zoom feature that’s already found on current Pixels, considering that even phones like the Huawei P30 Pro — which features a customized periscope style lens setup — can only achieve 5x optical zoom.