The Pixel 6 Won't Be Getting This Missing Pro Feature

With the Pixel 6, Google once again had a flagship phone it could be proud of. More importantly, is was one that fans and owners could even brag about with their Samsung and Apple friends. Although most of the attention and praise is lavished on the Pixel 6 Pro, especially with its dedicated telephoto camera, most things are more or less equal between the base and the pro models. The divide, however, might widen just a little bit if a new feature finally makes its way to only one of the two.

Thanks to numerous leaks, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro turned out to be almost everything they were expected to be. The new Tensor chip more or less performed as well as this year's top mobile processors, and Google finally upgraded its cameras to more current hardware standards. Its design was also quite notable, clearly establishing its visual identity as a Pixel phone.

Not all leaks panned out, though, and one in particular was mysteriously absent at launch. Traces of a Face Unlock feature were found in the Pixel 6's code, but was nowhere to be found when the phones arrived. There's a chance it might still happen, of course, but only for the Pixel 6 Pro.

As noted by 9to5Google, the Android 12L Beta for Pixel devices once again showed signs of a face unlocking feature. The difference with this latest revelation is that strings of text related to that feature seems to apply only to "Raven", the codename for the Pixel 6 Pro. There is no evidence that "Oriole", the base Pixel 6 model, will be getting this feature.

It's a rather confusing and strange turn of events, given the Pixel 6 Pro seems to have the exact same set of front-facing camera and sensor hardware as the Pixel 6. There is no special sensor that would justify making this Face Unlock feature an exclusive to the Pro model, so it would be puzzling if it turns out to be the case. Given it's a security-related feature, there might be some misgivings about making it unofficially available to the Pixel 6 via unofficial modded software.

Face Unlock hasn't been a feature in Pixel phones except for the Pixel 4, which had the abandoned Soli sonar hardware to improve the phone's security. That didn't turn out well either, and Pixel phones remained bereft of a secure and reliable face authentication method. Google seems to be banking instead on its new under-screen fingerprint scanner, which had its fair share of complaints.