Google's latest update to its Camera app is bringing the required code needed to enable faster Night Sight on the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro as part of the March Feature Drop, but it's not just the 2021 Pixels that are getting some love in this new version. It appears that Google's newest flagships are also getting a revamped zoom UI in the most recent version of the Camera app.
As 9to5Google reports, version 8.8 of the Google Camera app, which is in the process of rolling out to the Play Store now, enables new zoom controls on the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro — but only these models, not any of the older Pixels for some reason. The new UI appears when you pinch to zoom in the camera viewfinder, drag the zoom slider, or long-press the zoom controls just above the shutter button.
The old zoom controls in Google Camera (left) compared to the new ones (right)
Where the old zoom controls used a series of white dots to demarcate the different zoom levels, the new interface uses colored line segments. The 0.7x, 1x, 2x, and 8x increments on the Pixel 7 remain the same, as do the 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 5x, and 30x increments on the Pixel 7 Pro. Gone is the large bubble background for the current zoom level indicator — instead, the font is now slightly larger to make it easier to read without a background.
As Android Police reader 2005bnas pointed out in the comments below, the new version uses Material You accent coloring to match your phone's wallpaper. It's present on the line segments and numbers in this new zoom UI, and it can also be found in other areas of the app such as the camera mode selector.
It's unclear why Google has chosen to only bring this new zoom interface to its newest phones, but we have to imagine it will eventually make its way to all Pixel devices. If you're not seeing the new version of Google Camera in your Play Store updates, you can sideload version 8.8.224.514217832.10 from APKMirror to get the new zoom controls.