It's no secret that Google's Pixel series is prone to leaks. Usually, we know pretty much everything about the upcoming Pixel phones way before they're even announced. But sometimes, there are those rumored devices that never see the light of day, leaving us all scratching our heads.

Remember the canceled first-gen Pixel Fold, codenamed "pipit"? Well, we finally got to see what it was all about last year. Now, there's another mystery device: the alleged third flagship Pixel 4, known as "needlefish." There were a lot of rumors floating around about what it could be, but until now, concrete details were scarce. Thanks to a leaked photo and some sources, we've managed to uncover the truth about this mysterious handset.

So, what did we know about "needlefish" before? Honestly, not much. But the leaked photos reveal a device that looks a lot like the Pixel 4 XL. It has a display with a top bezel that houses the front camera, along with the hardware for IR face unlock and that Project Soli radar thing.

However, the phone's internals are a bit different from the regular Pixel 4 XL. There seem to be mmWave antenna modules on the top right and along the lower part of the left side. Plus, the battery is slightly bigger, clocking in at 3800mAh compared to the Pixel 4 XL's 3700mAh. It also lists the model number G025B.

The fastboot screen reveals some interesting stuff, too. Apparently, the phone is also called "U3," while the Pixel 4 XL was "C2" and the smaller Pixel 4 was "F2." And get this, it has 8GB of RAM, which is an upgrade from the regular Pixel 4's 6GB.

The 5G Puzzle

Here's where things get really interesting. The modem version starts with "g55," which suggests it's rocking Qualcomm's standalone X55 modem with 5G support. This, combined with what we know about the device, points to a combo of the Snapdragon 855 with the X55. It was a rare pairing only used in the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren Edition.

So, why didn't Google ever launch this phone? Well, the early days of 5G were a bit of a mess. The first phone modem that supported it, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X50, was more like an experiment than a polished product. The Snapdragon X55 came later, but these were standalone chips. The problem with that is that they're less efficient compared to chips with integrated modems, like the Snapdragon 765.

Google likely created "needlefish" to get a head start on 5G. The Snapdragon 765 had a cut-down X55, so redesigning the Pixel 4 XL to support 5G at minimal cost made sense. However, it seems unlikely that there were actual plans to launch it. The X55 shipped too late to launch it alongside the Pixel 4 family, and launching a Snapdragon 855 phone when the 865 was already available wouldn't have made much sense.

The device's revision, EVT1.4, seems to back this theory up. Google phones usually reach EVT1.2 before moving on to the next stage. I bet Google struggled with the whole 5G and mmWave thing, which required a few revisions to get right. We may never know for sure, but at least we now have some idea of what "needlefish" was supposed to be.