- An official Google blog post contains a photo with EXIF data indicating that it was from a Google Pixel 5a.
- Google hasn’t launched this phone yet so this is quite an anomaly.
- However, it is possible that the photo is incorrectly labeled and from another device.
Today, Google published a seemingly innocuous blog post describing some of the camera functions of Pixel devices. However, there is a link in the post to a photo that, when examined, is from a strange source.
According to the EXIF data associated with this photo, it was from a Google Pixel 5a (h / t) 9to5Google). It has only just been confirmed that this unreleased smartphone even exists. However, here is a photo that supposedly came from the device.
Connected: Google Pixel 5a: All the rumors so far
Just in case Google removes the photo, here it is in a compressed format:
Recognition: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
Obviously, there is nothing extraordinary about this photo. However, according to EXIF data, it was taken with a Pixel 5a on October 1, 2020 by Google software developer Manfred Ernst.
Well, October 1st, 2020 was a long time ago. In fact, the Google Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G had only launched the day before this shot. It seems strange that Ernst would take out a working prototype of the Pixel 5a for a photo session so long ago. However, that is exactly what this EXIF data suggests.
Of course, it’s possible that the EXIF data is incorrect, and this was actually recorded with something else – possibly an incorrectly labeled Pixel 4a prototype that Ernst was still using. We can’t say for sure.
In the end, this could be the first publicly available picture taken with a Pixel 5a. Hopefully we will know more about this highly anticipated phone soon!
