According to a reliable source, Google plans to hold a major event focusing on hardware October 4th. It will use the event to announce its new Pixel-branded smartphones Pixel and Pixel XL, a 4K Chromecast, fully detail Google Home, and reveal the company's in-house design for a Daydream VR viewer device (Google previously confirmed this was happening). Here is what we know.

The 4K Chromecast will do 4K and be called either the Chromecast Plus or Chromecast Ultra (makes sense - ultra HD). We aren't sure which.

The Daydream device may be called Daydream View.

Google was allegedly planning to announce a 4K version of the Chromecast last year, but seems to have scuttled the launch for some reason.

Other than that, we don't have anything new to report but that October 4th date. We don't know what time or where Google will hold the event, though San Francisco and New York have been their host cities of choice in the recent past. We also still don't know when the Pixel phones will go on sale or how much they'll cost. The same goes for any of the hardware to be announced at the event.

What we can say is that the Pixel phones will be available on or some time after October 4th, obviously. So, mark your calendars, everyone: it's Nexus Pixel season.

October 4th was previously proposed as a launch date for Google's new phones by Droid Life. It looks like they were right.

As a disclaimer: dates are always subject to change. Things can happen, unforeseen circumstances can emerge, and venues aren't always available. While October 4th is very much what we believe is the plan for Google's announcement, we can't say it's a 100% certainty because it's probably not even a certainty for Google. Additionally, products are also subject to change or delay - so keep that in mind.