https://www.cnet.com/news/pixel-3-xl-rumors-google-launch-specs-release-date-price-squeezable-sides-stand-today/

And we'd already seen a lot before -- including a full-fledged multimedia showcase posted by Russian bloggers earlier this year and a prototype Pixel 3 XL found in the backseat of a Lyft a few weeks back. Last week Google slyly acknowledged the massive rumor mill with a series of teaser illustrations.

If even half of the rumors are true, Google will be hard-pressed to conjure much surprise at the phone's official introduction. But there may be other opportunities. The latest version of its Android operating system, known as Android Pie, has compelling new features -- such as multiplayer AR and enhancements to its already-superior voice assistant -- that will likely be integrated in the Pixel 3. (Apple has showed off its own multiplayer AR at the iPhone XS launch and brought Siri a much-needed makeover with iOS 12.) And the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL may be more different from one another than in previous years -- chiefly due to the iPhone-like notched design that Google is rumored to have given the larger model.