Google’s Pixel 3 codenames revealed (maybe)

The Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are now shipping, and while they’ve generally received positive reviews, there’s always room for improvement. The Pixel 2 XL has a number of display issues, and some users have heard clicking or whining noises coming from both phones.

While it’d be nice if Google would address some of those issues with its current-gen phones, it looks like the company may already be working on their successors.

Droid Life has some of the first details about next-gen Pixel devices that likely won’t launch until late 2018.

According to the site’s sources, Google is working on three devices. Two will be “premium,” while one will be “high-end.” That suggests there’s no entry-level or mid-range options, but hopefully Google and its hardware partners will continue to flesh out the Android One program so that by next yer the $400 Moto X4 isn’t the only mid-range Android One Phone sold in the US.

Anyway, Droid Life doesn’t have many other details yet, but here are the alleged codenames for the new devices:

• Albacore
• Blueline
• Crosshatch

As usual, there’s something fishy about the names… but this time there’s something else interesting: the names will make it easy for Google to refer to the new Pixel devices by just their first letters, A, B, and C. That could make it a bit harder to glean what Google is working on by peeking at Android source code.

That said, the reason Droid Life is running its story now is because it was able to find mention of a device called “Crosshatch” at the Google Android Open Source Project site, so maybe Google isn’t always going to use letters instead of names.

While it looks like Google is developing three devices at this point, the earliest rumors about the 2017 Pixel lineup also included a device codenamed “Muskie” that never saw the light of day. This early in the development process, it’s possible Google is working on a bunch of different things. It doesn’t mean they’ll all make it to market.