It’s likely no coincidence that the leaked Pixel 6 release date is September 13th

Just last week we contemplated the significance of a tweet by Google SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer and what that now-deleted communication could mean. After all, Hiroshi is prone to this sort of social media trolling and discussion of his little Twitter stunt dominated the second half of our podcast last week. At the time, we carefully prognosticated that Mr. Lockheimer’s posted-then-deleted tweet could be a thinly veiled message regarding the launch date of Google’s new hardware in 2021 and, most notably, the arrival of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. Here’s a tweet of screenshots of that tweet again if you missed it last time around:

Hiroshi Lockheimer apparently posted (and then deleted) a screenshot from what's likely the Pixel 6 Pro (the image resolution was 1440×3200.) The phone is connected to Verizon 5G, likely the carrier's sub-6GHz network. Also shown is the position of the UDFPS.

H/T @jspring86az pic.twitter.com/Pessh7RvNV

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) August 24, 2021

Front and center, the main thing you see on this screen is the time: 9:13. Taken as a nudge to an upcoming date, it was pretty easy to connect this to September 13th after some folks at XDA realized the shared screenshot had the same resolution as the upcoming Pixel 6 Pro. With Hiroshi’s penchant towards teases on Twitter, I couldn’t help but think this is the new date for Google’s likely online-only event this year.

A new tipster is corroborating the date

This morning, a new report emerged out of China stating that Google’s upcoming reveal of the Pixel 6 will happen on September 13th. Sure, we get our fair share of traffic here at Chrome Unboxed, but the chance that a random tipster in China read our post about this possible hardware event date? Minimal at best.

First seen on Notebook Check, it appears that a known tipster/leaker on the Chinese website Weibo has posted hardware event dates for a few companies coming up in September, including Apple and Google. According to user Panda is Bald, we should expect Google’s event to happen on September 13th and Apple’s to occur two days later on the 15th.

As always, we would say to take these sorts of leaks with a dash of healthy skepticism. While this Panda is Bald user seems to have a decent track record, these sorts of tips can miss even if the source info was good at one time or another. I still hold to the theory that Google was planning a September 30th release date (just look at all the 9:30 times on all their press materials so far with the Pixle 6) and has likely decided to scrap the in-person event due to the new resurgence of COVID. With no need to wait on a physical venue, they can move the event to whenever they choose, and what better time than right before Apple’s iPhone 13 event? One way or another, we’ll know soon enough, right?