Google looks to be moving back to an early October hardware event this fall

Starting back with the original Pixel phone in 2016, Google has mostly stuck with October as their month of choice for releasing their new handsets each year. The date has moved around from year-to-year, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget the hype around that first event slated for October 4th, 2016. We talked about 10/4 quite a bit, hoping for more than just a new phone, and that event kickstarted a new era for Google in the hardware business and introduced us to the Google Assistant. Though the company has stayed relatively true to the October timeline over the past 7 years, they have moved around the dates quite a bit.

In 2016 and 2017, it was on the 4th. This made us think Google had a penchant for 10/4, but that was undone in 2018 as the event occurred a bit later on the 9th. The following year in 2019, the event was pushed further back to the 15th, with the pandemic-stricken 2020 event falling on September 30th and being a definite outlier compared with the in-person events that came before it. 2021 returned us to an October date, falling on the 5th of the month, and getting us back to the early part of the month where all of this started.

New rumors surrounding the 2022 Google Hardware Event

According to a new rumor being reported by Front Page Tech (who has a good track record with Google-related timelines), Google is once again sticking to the early part of October for their latest hardware event. Citing “very reputable sources,” Front Page Tech says that the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro will go up for pre-order on October 6th and begin shipping the week after.

This would indicate a likely event on Thursday, October 6th 2022, but there’s one issue with that line of thinking. Google has never held a hardware event on a Thursday. Even with the pandemic in full swing in 2020, Google stayed in their Tuesday-or-Wednesday window. I’m not saying they are in any way beholden to those days of the week, but the fact that 6 hardware events have come and gone and all of them fell on either a Tuesday or Wednesday tells me Google is likely doing this for a reason.

So, perhaps we have an event on October 5th and pre-orders go live the following day. Or maybe Google changes things up and has their event on a Thursday this time around. If this info is correct from Front Page Tech, one of those scenarios is likely, and it means we only have just over 9 weeks before the rest of Google’s already-announced hardware is unleashed on the world.

With two great new phones in the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, the long-awaited Pixel Watch, and perhaps a folding Pixel Notepad all waiting in the wings, there is a lot to get excited for as we move closer to the event. We likely won’t know anything concrete for a while as Google keeps these events under wraps until just a few weeks out, but as soon as we learn more, we’ll be sure to let you know.