The Google Pixel 4a at this point is already fully baked and should be able to give the iPhone SE a run for its money at $399. However, the outlook for the upcoming Pixel 5 has taken a turn for the worse when it was discovered that the person leading the team's camera development has left the company.

According to a new report from The Information, Mark Levoy, the "mastermind" of Google's Pixel camera, left Google in March. This does not bode well, even though the camera was a defining feature of the Pixel line. Additionally, Pixel general manager Mario Queiroz left Google in January.

Levoy was brought over from Stanford University after leading the project that became Google Maps' Street View, and was also a consultant to the Google Glass team. But Levoy is best known as a pioneer in computational photography, which has allowed Pixel phones to do amazing things like night-sight mode and super-res zoom without a telephoto lens.

Most recently, with the Pixel 4, Levoy and his team found a way to capture the night sky and stars in Night Sight mode. The Pixel 4 also allows users to fine-tune the brightness and amount of detail in the shadows in HDR+ mode even while shooting. Put all of this together and it's easy to see why the Pixel 4 is one of the best camera phones out there.

Unfortunately, the Pixel 4 was otherwise a mediocre phone. The Soli radar chip, which allows hand gesture control, seemed gimmicky. To make matters worse, the Pixel 4's battery life was poor, lasting only 8 hours and 3 minutes in our web surfing test. All of the devices on our best smartphone battery life list are over 11 hours.

The Information reports that Rick Osterloh, Google's head of hardware, complained about the Pixel 4's battery life a few weeks before its fall launch. However, it does not seem plausible that the Pixel team could have done anything at such a late stage to address such a critical issue.

IDC estimates that Google has only 3% market share in the U.S., so Google has an uphill battle with its Pixel phone line for the rest of the year and beyond

With respect to the Pixel 5, Google has a lot to gain from the iPhone 12 and Samsung's Galaxy S20, it does not appear to be trying to compete directly with premium flagships like the iPhone 12 or Samsung's Galaxy S20. Instead, the company will reportedly use the lower-cost Snapdragaon 765G or Snapdragon 768G chips to undercut its main competitors in terms of price while still offering 5G capabilities. It may also feature a 120 Hz refresh rate display.

Ultimately, however, the pressure will be on Google to show that the Pixel line is known for its photography prowess and is leading the pack when it comes to image quality. One rumor has it that Google will finally add an ultra-wide-angle lens to complement the standard wide-angle and telephoto lenses found on traditional phones. And software alone cannot capture more of the scene.

But it was Google's advances in computational photography that put the Pixel on the map, and without Levoy's vision to see this product through, it may be really hard for the Pixel 5 to stand out.