One of the constants with the Pixel family of phones is that they've all had fishy codenames. The original Pixel and Pixel XL were known internally as Sailfish and Marlin, the Pixel 2 was Walleye, and the Pixel 3 was Blueline. Now the codenames for the Pixel 4a phones may have leaked.
Three codenames that could be related to Pixel 4a phones have been spotted inside the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Spotted by XDA-Developers, they are Sunfish, Redfin, and Bramble.
In addition to the codenames, some details on these devices were found in the AOSP. Sunfish is based on the sm7150 platform, aka the Snapdragon 730 SoC. This is a mid-range processor that would make sense in a Pixel 4a after the Pixel 3a launched with a Snapdragon 670 chipset. Also of note is that Sunfish has two development branches: one based on Android 10 and one based on Android 11.
Next is Redfin. This device is based on the sm7250 platform, which is the Snapdragon 765. That's Qualcomm's new mid-range chipset that includes integrated 5G. Redfin is only being developed on Android 10.
And then there's Bramble, which is also based on the Snapdragon 765 and is being developed on both Android 10 and Android 11.
Unfortunately, that's all that is known about Sunfish, Redfin, and Bramble right now. Today's report notes that there may not actually be three Pixel 4a models, and instead either Redfin or Bramble is just a development board and the two others are actual devices. For example, a 4G-only Pixel 4a and a 5G-enabled Pixel 4a XL.
It's also possible that Google is prepping a 4G-only Pixel 4a for markets where 5G isn't yet available and then also working on 5G-enabled Pixel 4a and Pixel 4a XL models for those markets with 5G connectivity. It seems like adding 5G support could make the Pixel 4a and 4a XL pricier than last year's Pixel 3a and 3a XL, which start at $399 and $479, respectively, but maybe Google believes that adding 5G and making the Pixel 4a and 4a XL a bit pricier is worth it in order to help make them a bit more future-proof.
