Google’s upcoming Pixel 7 turned up for sale this week, but not from any official channels you’d expect. The next flagship Pixel showed up for sale on eBay and Facebook marketplace briefly before being pulled. While the listing was for a Pixel 7, a Pixel 7 Pro prototype was also visible on the glassy back of the Pixel 7, confirming the seller had at least two new Pixel phones on hand.
As for the phone itself, looking at the images pulled from eBay, it certainly does appear to be a Pixel 7. With Google having already announced the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro though, there’s nothing surprising to see other than the front — which looks exactly like you’d expect if you’d ever held a Pixel 6.
A report from The Verge says that the listing comes from a person who purchased the Pixel 7 inadvertently from a wholesaler. The Pixel 7 Pro referenced earlier in the post has also been sold.
Google has never had a great time keeping a handle on secrets. The Pixel 7 was leaked months before its pre-announcement at I/O, and the mythical Pixel Notepad/Fold has popped up in software code. In terms of hardware, a physical Pixel Watch found its way online earlier this year before Google announced it at I/O after it was left in a bar, and a Pixel 6 Pro prototype turned up in Nigeria’s Computer Village last year.
As for when you can actually buy the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro in non-prototype form, expect that to be either September or October. We’ve already seen the device announced at Google I/O, and not many changes are expected other than tweaks to the camera bar and the new Tensor 2 processor. The Pixel 6 has been Google’s most interesting (and successful) phone over the past three years. If the company can continue building on the momentum, it may yet turn the Pixel family into a hit.