Despite recent rampant speculation that the Pixel 8 series could remove the SIM tray and go eSIM-only, sources tell 9to5Google that reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. The Pixel 8 series will keep the physical SIM card tray in place, while the Pro will add Night Sight video.
With the Pixel 6, Night Sight photos got “sharper and more detailed” thanks to a larger rear sensor that captures more light, a new laser autofocus system, and the Tensor ISP running new motion detection algorithms that work more quickly.
On the Pixel 7, the minimum exposure times for Night Sight were half as long, thus resulting in less motion blur, due to updated HDR+ with Bracketing and new ML techniques.
This year, the Pixel 8 Pro will offer Night Sight video for better recording in low-light situations. It’s a straightforward capability that could easily be the highlight of the new camera.
With the first-generation Tensor, Google “drastically accelerated” Live HDR+ thanks to the Tensor image signal processor (ISP), with the SoC also allowing for real-time tone mapping of people. Last year, the Pixel 7 saw the addition of Cinematic Blur to bring Portrait Mode to video. That trend of bringing photo-first features to video, which is more computationally intensive, continues and makes the larger phone this year even more compelling.
Meanwhile, the idea popped up in recent weeks that the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro would drop the SIM card tray, like iPhone 14 models sold in the US, to go all-in on eSIM as Android works on simple transfers when setting up a new device. The adoption of eSIM has certainly increased over the past few years, as led by the iPhone, and Android support can vary but has been getting better. However, there are still edge cases, like when traveling to a country where local carriers don’t offer eSIM support.
Fortunately, according to sources familiar with the matter, that is simply not happening, and the SIM tray will remain (on the left edge) as usual.