That’s quite a picture there.
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do you know what's going on with the gaps in the bezel on the right phone? my pixel has seemingly the exact same gaps, which is weird
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Is it a Pixel 2 (non-XL)? It has a metal back, unlike later generations using a glass (3, 3 XL, 4, 4 XL) or plastic (3a, 4a) back. It makes radio reception more difficult.
Try bridging the gaps across the metal bezel with a conductor and see what it does to reception.
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Here's Apple's patent:
patents.google.com/patent/US82709
The details would be different for other devices, but it's a similar idea. Pixel 5 went back to a metal back but still has wireless charging. They still seem to use the bezel this way but the metal has a finish so it's not visible.