google: Pixel 7 Pro prototype sold through Facebook Marketplace; Google remotely disables the unit – Times of India

A few days ago, live images of the yet-to-be-announced Pixel 7 surfaced on the internet, and apparently, the prototype version of the smartphone was on sale on eBay months before its release. Now, its bigger sibling – the Pixel 7 Pro – is also doing the rounds of the internet for the same reason.
The seller who posted the ad for the Pixel 7 on eBay allegedly also put out an advertisement for the Pixel 7 Pro on Facebook Marketplace last month. However, little did they know that it was the upcoming Pixel 7 Pro. According to the buyer, the smartphone was listed as the Pixel 6 Pro with no box. The buyer had been using the smartphone for three weeks until it stopped working one day, and they think that Google remotely disabled the prototype unit once it got to know that someone had a prototype of their upcoming smartphone and wiped it out.
“It’s been working 100% fine the entire time I had it until yesterday morning. It was early about 4:00 something. I was getting ready and I saw the screen start flickering and doing weird stuff. The next thing I know I saw it saying it was factory data resetting and wiping everything from my phone, so I freaked out and tried to get it out of that but it wasn’t letting me do anything. Then I saw a circle on the screen saying erasing date and then it went to that screen. I think big G did it,” said the buyer in a Reddit thread.
The buyer also attached a few pictures, out of which two match with official renders from Google, showing the new metallic camera visor and one more camera on the Pro model. Interestingly enough, the alleged Pixel 7 Pro features the same logo as the leaked Pixel 7 prototype unit, which is common among smartphone OEMs. The smartphone was black in colour, probably known as Obsidian shade.
Further, the pictures confirm the rumoured ‘Cheetah’ codename for the Pixel 7 Pro. And the EVT suggests that it is an Engineering Verification Test model, which means Google would have made around 10-50 units to test them before continuing with mass production.
The Pixel 7 Pro is expected to bring some minor upgrades over its predecessor – and a new Tensor chip is one of them. The buyer says that the 7 Pro unit he has fits perfectly inside the Pixel 6 Pro case, and even the screen guard is a match for it. Also, the seller confirmed that other units have also been disabled anonymously and want the Pixel 7 Pro back.