Google took the veil off the Pixel 3a and 3a XL yesterday, ending lingering speculation about the models. The models present with a Snapdragon 670 chipset under their hood and unlike the Pixel 3 models, they retain the 3.5mm audio jack. The Pixel 3a models also come with OLED displays which is our point of focus of this report.
Not long after the launch conference, the Pixel 3a/3a XL kernel source code appeared on Google’s support library. One of the major things we can grab from the listing is that the display panels of the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL are supplied by Samsung and Chinese firm Tianma. The source code for the Pixel 3a XL was specifically listed to be manufactured by both Samsung Display and Tianma while that of the Pixel 3a is manufactured by Samsung Display only.
Tianma Micro-Electronics is a China-based display producer that was established in 1983. TianMa has been active with OLED R&D since 2010. The company presently manufactures OLED panels in its 6-Gen LTPS AMOLED fab in Wuhan, China. This is a good development which means Samsung’s monopoly in the aspect of OLED panels supply.
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The source code also shows that Google had finalized the industrial design of the Pixel3a as far back as 2013. The camera module was completed in 2016 and the core chip was installed in 2017. Also, we got to know that the Pixel 3a is codenamed Sargo while the Pixel 3a XL comes with the code name Bonito.
(via)
