It looks like Google’s Pixel 5 smartphone features a speaker underneath the display.
Spotted by some eagle-eyed Redditors, Google’s official ‘Pixel phone hardware diagram‘ clearly shows a top earpiece speaker positioned beneath the display. The diagram labels several parts of the phone, including the camera, power button and the earpiece speaker.
However, the speaker (number 4 on the diagram) is shown to be centred and just below the top bezel of the screen. Further, the diagram shows the proximity and ambient light sensors above the speaker and still under the screen.
9to5Google points out that the position of the ambient light and proximity sensors mirrors what’s seen on the Pixel 4a, which also features those sensors beneath the display. It’s worth noting that on the 4a, the sensors aren’t centred like on the Pixel 5, but instead reside just to the right of the speaker.
Considering images of the Pixel 5 don’t show a top speaker, it seems like the under-display speaker theory is correct. Further evidence comes from images of Pixel 5 screen protectors, which have a small cut-out that could be for the speaker. Interestingly, the cut-out is slightly to the left of centre, suggesting the speaker isn’t centred on the phone.
It’s worth noting that the Pixel 5 isn’t the first phone to feature an under-display speaker. The LG G8, for example, includes one that “works pretty well” according to MobileSyrup staff reporter and evening editor Dean Daley.
While we won’t know how good the Pixel 5 speaker sounds until we go hands-on with the phone, it’s another subtle hardware tweak that hopes to make the Pixel 5 more premium than it seems at first. For example, the Pixel 5 also sports a hole in the aluminum frame to allow for wireless charging, which is hidden beneath a ‘bio-resin’ coating.
Source: Google Via: Reddit, 9to5Google
