Google’s Pixel 11 series pairs a little new hardware with a lot of new software

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When I first picked up the Pixel 11 Pro this week, it was clear to me that this was one of those refinement years — at least when it comes to hardware. Aesthetically, the phones are as beautiful as ever, with Google’s signature camera bar and bright, colorful backing glass. There are small updates, like a single piece of glass covering the camera bar and the all-new HiLight ambient LED on the Pros. But this year, the Pixel is all about quality of life and software improvements.

After weeks of teasers, Google has finally formally announced the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold. The phones are all shipping next week, on August 20th, and Google is holding a splashy event the evening of August 12th to show off the devices. Ahead of that, we had a chance to take a first look at everything that’s coming up.

Let’s start with the bad news up front: All of these phones are $100 more expensive than last year’s. Google has killed off the 128GB base storage option this year, which means the Pixel 11 now starts at $899 for a 256GB model. All storage tiers still come with 12GB of RAM, but the higher entry price is no doubt driven by RAMageddon, which has been increasing costs across the industry.

If you can look past the price, you’ll find a refined version of last year’s phone that looks and feels a bit more premium. The camera bar is now made of a singular piece of glass and is over 40 percent thinner. If you use it with one of Google’s cases, the bar will become completely flush. (This gives you three different camera bar thickness options on the Pixel line now, which only get thicker the more premium you go.)

The cameras have been upgraded, too. On the Pixel 11, the 48MP wide is quoted with 56 percent more light gathering capability from its new 1/1.56-inch sensor, and the 5x telephoto lens can now digitally zoom up to 30x, which Google says is enabled by the new image signal processor in the Tensor G6 chipset. And considering the new Tensor G6 chip is said to be up to 20 percent more efficient, Google is quoting up to 30-plus hours of battery life across the lineup.

Perhaps the most interesting update to me is the new Camera Looks feature. You can think of this similarly to the film recipes on Fujifilm cameras, presenting users with stylized presets that can be customized to their liking.

What makes Camera Looks so interesting, though, is instead of just being a filter on top of the preprocessed Pixel photo, the phone will process the photo completely differently at the sensor level depending on which settings you choose, potentially using less frame stacking and sharpening to deliver the photo you actually want. During my briefing at least, this really delivered. The Natural mode does an amazing job of lowering the sharpness and contrast and making the photos look much more true to life, and I’m excited to take it for a proper spin later. If you want to learn more about this, check out my dedicated article where I spoke with Pixel camera lead Isaac Reynolds.

Another new feature inside the camera is Magic Capture. This is a camera mode alongside the photo and video modes that creates a sort of hybrid mashup of the two, where the phone will automatically pick out short clips and images you can share. During my hands-on time this feature didn’t work great, only giving me one small clip and one photo from a roughly 15-second recording, but I believe it’s meant for longer clips at things like kids’ birthday parties. We’ll have to test this in the field once we have more time with the device.

Google is also adding a new Creator Suite inside the camera, which gives you access to tools like social media framing guides, speech enhancement, a teleprompter, and automatic folder structures for video. I was surprised to see this so deeply integrated into the camera itself, and it’s clear Google is going after a new audience and hoping to make the Pixel the best phone for small creators.

The phones also all feature Qi2.2 — an upgrade from Qi2 last year. Google says this offers 25 percent faster wireless charging of up to 25W, an upgrade from the 15W max the Pixel 10 offered. However, many users reported seeing a maximum wireless charge rate of only 5W with the Pixel 10 when using older chargers, so hopefully the problem is fixed this year.

The Pixel 11 will come in purple, green, black, and an extremely hot magenta.

The 11 Pro and Pro XL are where things get a little more interesting this year. Like the standard Pixel 11, they start at 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM (down from 16GB last year), which starts at $1,099. If you’re a power user, you can still get 16GB of RAM if you buy the 512GB or 1TB models.

You’re definitely getting more with the Pro models this year, though. The display on the Pixel 11 Pro gets up to a super bright 3,600 nits, which Google says is the brightest display ever on a smartphone. This isn’t a massive difference from the 3,300-nit peak brightness from last year, but it’s something for your money.

The main camera sensor on the Pixel 11 Pro has been improved, with a new 50MP model that Google says uses less power and should perform better in the 1x-to-5x zoom range. There’s also a new 48MP telephoto lens with a larger 1/1.95-inch sensor that delivers a quoted 30 percent improvement in light sensitivity. And just like the standard Pixel 11, the 11 Pro has a further zoom range, now extending up to 120x, which Google says is enabled by the ISP in Tensor G6.

On the Pro phones, Google has also substantially sped up Night Sight, offering up to 4.5x faster low-light image capture, though Google tells me on average it’s about 3x faster than last year. This is still a pretty substantial improvement, and Reynolds told me the idea was to optimize Night Sight for handheld capture. “You can still capture for up to four minutes if you want all the light,” he tells me, “but it’s really optimized for those awkward moments where you have to tell someone to hold still for a little too long.”

The flashiest feature (pun intended) of the new Pro phones is the HiLight feature. Pixel 11 Pro and Pro Fold phones now feature an RGB LED ring where the temperature sensor used to be on the right side of the camera bar. When you’re talking to Gemini, the LED will glow blue as it listens and responds to you. Separately, you can set favorite contacts to glow when they call you through the default Phone app or WhatsApp. Google is marketing the feature as a way to be more present in your everyday life, but it doesn’t feel particularly useful to me yet considering its use is so limited. Google says more functionality is coming in the future, but right now, this doesn’t feel like a reason to buy the phone.

The Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL will come in olive, light blue, and a striking orange-ish “canyon” color, all with glossy side rails. There’s also a black option, which this year has matte side rails, unlike all the other Pro devices.

Finally, there’s the Pixel 11 Pro Fold. Google is calling it the most durable Pixel Fold yet, with a new composite back material that Google says is nearly impossible to crack. This, alongside a thicker inner ultra-thin glass display, contributes to Google’s “3x more durable” claim compared to last year.

The inner bezels have also been reduced, making it Google’s thinnest Fold bezels ever, and the peak brightness matches the Pixel 11 Pro at 3,600 nits. The 11 Pro Fold is also inheriting the new 48MP main sensor from the Pixel 11 for a quoted 56 percent improved light sensitivity compared to last year, and it gets Qi2.2 for up to 20 percent faster wireless charging.

The 11 Pro Fold starts at 16GB of RAM standard with 256GB of storage, comes in olive and black, and starts at $1,899 — also a $100 price jump over last year.

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