A leak shows evidence that 2023 Pixel phones will gain staggered HDR support, something that's not possible with the main sensor on the Pixel 6 and 7 series.

Kuba Wojciechowski dug into the Google Camera Go app and found references to staggered HDR for 2023 phones.

So, what is staggered HDR? As you might already know, HDR photography typically works by blending a series of under and over-exposed images to create a single photo with a wider dynamic range.

Google has used a variety of methods to achieve its HDR effect and currently relies on HDR+ with bracketing.

This method captures five short exposures before the shutter press, and a single longer exposure once the button is tapped.

Staggered HDR, on the other hand, uses three exposures taken in rapid succession - short, medium and long.

What's important here, though, is that Samsung's GN1 sensor, the main sensor on the Pixel 6 and 7, doesn't support this, but the Samsung Isocell GN2 does.

So we might already have a decent idea about the camera specs for next year's Pixels.

When Samsung launched the Isocell GN2, it said that staggered HDR brings richer detail and more vibrant colours than the GN1's HDR method.

Crucially, it's also faster and more efficient, representing a 24 per cent reduction in energy consumption.

So, while it's too early to say for sure, it certainly seems like Google could be using this sensor in 2023. Time will tell if it proves correct.