In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a new design trend spreading throughout the entire smartphone industry. No, it’s not titanium — not anymore, at least — and premium flagships are still mostly arriving on store shelves in their usual drab colors. No, it’s the camera bar, a fresh method of styling the prerequisite lens bump you’ll find on every flagship smartphone, and in this case, it’s Google that can claim the credit for influencing its rivals.
The camera bar concept doesn’t necessarily begin with the Pixel 6 series, but that’s certainly the device that popularized it. While you can absolutely look back on phones like the Nexus 6P as precursors to Google’s modern design language, I think it’s undeniable that Google set out on its own path with its first Tensor-powered phone. And over the last five generations, Google has largely stuck to the groundwork it initially set back in 2021. Sure, the camera bar gained a lens flare-resistant cover on the Pixel 7, separated from the rest of the frame on the Pixel 9, and fully receded into the chassis on the Pixel 9a, but largely speaking, Google’s devices are some of the most easily recognizable out in the wild thanks to this design trend.
Of course, it’s not just form over function. Google’s camera bar has helped keep its Pixels from the scourge of desk-wobble enveloping the rest of the industry. Excluding the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and its direct successor, every camera bar-equipped Pixel has been capable of resting on a table without rocking back and forth uncontrollable every time it’s poked or prodded. That might sound like a low bar to clear, but Samsung, Apple, and plenty of other manufacturers haven’t seemed to care much.
Or, at least, they didn’t. The smartphone tides are turning once again, and it looks like the next hottest design trend is, well, camera bars. This week, Apple announced its latest series of iPhones, and while the base model looks nearly indistinguishable from its predecessor, the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone Air take new swings at the company’s usual look and feel. The iPhone Air, in particular, seems to harken back to the Nexus 6P, what with its single camera lens and rounded, top-mounted bump, while the iPhone 17 Pro seems to combine the Pixel’s camera bar with the tri-lens layout from older Apple releases.
Apple’s not alone, though. The latest Galaxy S26 Edge leaks seem to point towards a redesign for Samsung’s next-gen iPhone Air rival, combining that ultra-thin design with an iPhone 17 Pro-esque camera bar. The rest of the S26 series seems to be keeping its vertical-aligned camera systems, even adopting the raised module seen on this year’s Galaxy Z Fold 7. Considering Samsung’s love of a unified design language across all of its devices, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Galaxy S27 series follows the Edge design as closely as possible.
Even smaller players are getting in on the fun. This morning, Sony announced its latest Xperia device, its first in ages to rock a new design. Surprise, surprise — it’s sporting a camera bar too.
It’s impossible not to draw a direct lineage between these devices and the Pixel’s influence, small (though growing!) its sales numbers may be. While I’m sure some Pixel die-hards see the encroachment of Samsung and Apple as a ripoff of Google’s once-unique design language, I, for one, welcome the competition to the world of camera bars. Frankly, as someone who typically opts to use my phone without a case, trying to use any non-Pixel flagship over the last five years on a desk has outright sucked. That might sound like a niche complaint, but when I’m working, I don’t always want to pick up my phone to check a notification or to quickly respond to a text, and I know I’m not alone there.
As a quick aside, this experience is made all the more frustrating whenever I’m using an S Pen-capable device. Samsung, writing on the Galaxy S25 Ultra is miserable — if you’re going to adopt a camera bar, bring it to the phone that could benefit the most from it, don’t make the camera bump even larger.
Now, all told, I certainly wouldn’t say Google’s been beat at its own game. The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air both retain lens bumps, despite their new design; while I haven’t held them in person, I don’t see how Apple won’t feature some level of desk-wobble here. Of course, the iPhone Air practically has its entire phone shoved into its camera bump — including its sole speaker — so perhaps it was unavoidable on that particular phone. We have yet to see the Galaxy S26 Edge outside of some early renders, but it appears to follow suit as well, with its dual lenses protruding from the back. Credit where credit’s due, Sony’s new mid-ranger absolutely got this right.
After taking 2025 to focus on Tensor and Qi2, Google’s likely due for a design refresh with the Pixel 11. Not only am I hoping the camera bar sticks around for a sixth generation, but I’m hoping those lenses continue to stay within the bounds of its surrounding case. You’ve been nailing this look since 2021, Google, and your style still stands out among a sea of quasi-clones. Don’t let the competition steer you wrong.
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