Google promotes the Pixel 6 line with billboards and...potato chips?

Google is pulling out all of the stops as its efforts to market the Pixel 6 series in the face of iPhonemania has started. In Japan, Google has released potato chips in bags that match the Pixel 6 colors. But note that the bag reads "Google Original Chips" which is a clever way to promote the homegrown Tensor SoC that will be powering the new Pixel models. Consumers in Japan can actually obtain a bag of these chips even with the current chip shortage.

Google is also taking the advertising campaign to the states where billboards are surfacing in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. A tweet from a photographer named David Urbanke (via AndroidHeadlines) indicates that the Pixel 6 handsets using on the billboard are not renders and were snapped by Urbanke who says that this is his first ad campaign and his first billboard.

Each billboard shows the name of the phone with a photo of the handset showing the home screen along with one of the new clock widgets. The phone could be unveiled in October (perhaps on the 19th?) with a possible October 28th release date. That is the date shown on the clock widgets seen on a photograph released by Google to promote the Material You app design it is introducing this year along with Android 12.

Google is also promoting its upcoming Pixel 6 series in the online Google Store and you should expect to see more billboards, print ads, and television commercials pushing the new handsets as we head into October.

The Pixel 6 is expected to sport a 6-inch OLED display that updates 90 times each second. The phone is powered by Google's homegrown Tensor chipset paired with 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage. A 4614mAh battery keeps the lights on and there is a dual-camera setup on the back including a 50MP primary camera and a 12MP Ultra-wide camera. There is an in-display fingerprint scanner, water resistance, and Android 12 is pre-installed.

The Pixel 6 Pro should carry a larger 6.7-inch OLED display with a 1440p resolution, and a 120Hz refresh rate. 12GB of memory is believed to be on board and the rear camera module includes the two cameras on the Pixel 6 plus a 48MP telephoto camera with 4x optical zoom. A 5000mAh battery, the largest to ever power a Pixel phone, should be big enough to provide users with at least all-day battery life.

Google seems to be all-in this year with the Pixel 6 line creating excitement like it did two years ago with the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. Google thought for sure that it had a bona fide iPhone killer with its 2019 series and leaked the device itself through a blog post and a video. The latter showed Face Unlock in action as well as the Motion Sense gesture control. Despite all of the advanced hype, the Pixel 4 line was a major disappointment not only for consumers, but also for Google.

As a result, Google took a year off developing a premium Pixel model for 2020 as the Pixel 5 headed to market unaccompanied by an "XL," "Plus," or "Pro" model. But what Google did during the last year is pay attention to what consumers have been asking for with the Pixel brand. The larger batteries that we expect to see on both the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are a major example of this.

The manufacturer also couldn't wait to dump Face Unlock as most consumers said that they were able to unlock their Pixels faster with a fingerprint scanner. This year, the scanner is under the display which has been on some the wish lists of some Pixel owners.

Has Google really upped its game this year? If the rumored late October release date is right, we could know in as little as six weeks.