Google Pixel 5a stops by the FCC ahead of launch
Google is still hard at work on the Pixel 5a 5G, a phone that back in April it denied was canceled. The company alluded that its official launch would happen around the same time of year that the Pixel 4a got announced in 2020, which was in August. This means we're probably only a few short weeks away from the unveiling, and that's been confirmed by the Pixel 5a's presence at the FCC today.
The US regulatory agency issued two separate IDs for versions of the Pixel 5a, of which one is probably intended for the North American market, and another for the rest of the world. The differences between them are summarized in the image below.
It's all about band support and lack of CDMA on one model - this would be the global one, for it only makes sense to have CDMA enabled for the US where Verizon operates. Although there are two FCC IDs, there might actually be three Pixel 5a model numbers (two covered by the same ID) - G1F8F, G4S1M, and GR0M2.
The FCC listing doesn't reveal any specs we don't already know, it serves just as a reminder that the launch is probably closer than you'd think, as such a regulatory certification is usually received mere weeks before launch.
According to past leaks and rumors, the Pixel 5a will look almost identical to the Pixel 4a 5G, and it will be powered by the same Snapdragon 765G chipset. Unlike with the 4a generation, the 5a seems to have only one iteration, with that SoC and 5G support of course. So no more 4G-only affordable Pixel.
The phone should also have an ultrawide camera alongside its main one, but one rumor said we should expect a higher price than the Pixel 4a. Now that might just be because the 5a is actually the successor to the 4a 5G, which was more expensive than the 4a. We'll let you know when we find out more.