In an age when annual phone upgrades seem increasingly iterative, Google has brought at least one interesting new hardware feature to the table with the Pixel 11 Pro.
Announced as part of its Made by Google event on Wednesday, the Pixel 11 Pro builds on the Pixel 10 Pro from a year ago by upgrading a few key components and adding a new element to the camera bar called HiLight. Before we get to that, though, let’s talk price.
The Pixel 11 Pro starts at $1,099, which is $100 higher than the starting price for the Pixel 10 Pro. An important bit of context, though, is that the 10 Pro’s $999 model had 128GB of storage, which is not available on the 11 Pro.
Google Pixel 11 Pro: Colors and specs
Nice metal curves.
Credit: René Ramos / Mashable
Pixel 11 Pro comes in four colors: Canyon, Obsidian, Fog, and Olive. Here are the specs:
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Display: 6.3-inch display with 1280×2856 resolution and 1-120Hz refresh rate
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Processor: Google Tensor G6
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Storage: 256/512GB/1TB
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Memory: 12/16GB RAM
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Battery: 4,850mAh battery
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Rear cameras: 50MP wide, 48MP ultra-wide, 48MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom
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Front camera: 42MP
There are some meaningful changes to discuss here. First, Google upped the peak brightness from 3,300 nits to 3,600 nits, so it should be easier to use outdoors. Beyond that, the removal of a 128GB storage option also coincides with the addition of a 12GB RAM option. Before this, Pixel Pro devices only came with 16GB RAM. It seems that 16GB RAM is tied to higher storage options this year, with 12GB being associated with the 256GB storage variant.
The new Tensor G6 processor should improve performance and unlock new AI features like Magic Capture, which will seemingly find “perfect” frames in your videos to turn into images, with automatic cropping and unblurring when necessary.
Google Pixel 11 Pro: Introducing HiLight
There it is.
Credit: René Ramos / Mashable
All of that is within the realm of expectations for a new Pixel Pro device, but HiLight is not.
This new feature, which rumors had called “Pixel Glow” before the unveiling on Wednesday, is a small multicolored light that lives in the camera bar on Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel Fold devices. Sorry, the base model is excluded here. HiLight will light up and change colors when you have your phone turned over to notify you if someone in your contacts is calling, or to signify that Gemini is being used. You can go into your contacts and even set custom colors for different people, if you’d like.
We’ll have full reviews for these new Pixel phones in the near future, so watch this space for further analysis of things like HiLight.