Google caught me off guard… placing the entire Pixel 11 lineup on sale in New York on Wednesday, hours earlier than its personal Made by Google keynote had even began, and each cellphone prices $100 greater than the mannequin it replaces. The Pixel 11 begins at $899, the Pixel 11 Professional at $1,099, the Pixel 11 Professional XL at $1,299, and the Pixel 11 Professional Fold at $1,899. Pre-orders opened that morning, and retail inventory arrives August 20.
Pricing is the headline of the day, and Google isn’t dressing it up. Base Professional and Professional XL configurations fall to 12 GB of RAM from final yr’s 16 GB, which the corporate attributes to a supplier-driven reminiscence scarcity throughout the trade. Alongside the rise, you get Tensor G6, 256 GB of base storage as an alternative of 128 GB, a brand new rear notification LED referred to as HiLight, and a Pixel Watch 5 that may dial emergency providers when you cease respiration.
Reminiscence scarcity, meet the value tag
A Google spokesperson described the state of affairs as a extreme, supplier-driven RAM scarcity and mentioned the corporate wanted to regulate Pixel 11 pricing and RAM configurations whereas it engineers its means via the issue. I can settle for a scarcity driving up prices, however as somebody trying on the $1,099 beginning value, I’m unsure why I must also settle for much less reminiscence. Google’s reply leaves the cheaper Professional feeling just like the fallacious one to purchase. I’d look forward to the 16 GB configuration quite than spend $1,099 and begin the yr with a downgrade.
The 256 GB base storage makes extra sense to me. I’m fairly good at managing storage, eradicating each PDF I try, and I don’t maintain any video games in addition to Name of Responsibility. Nonetheless, I’ve misplaced depend of what number of instances my father has requested me to wash up his cellphone after years of images, movies, screenshots, and downloads have piled up.
A flash that talks: HiLight
For starters, HiLight wraps an array of coloured LEDs across the digital camera flash on the Pixel 11 Professional, Professional XL, and Professional Fold.
I’d use HiLight most when, say, I’m listening to Spotify at my desk and don’t need to maintain checking my cellphone. A wealthy inexperienced glow for Spotify notifications would give the function some character and make the rear mild really feel helpful past calls. Google limits customization to favourite contacts for now, which, I’ve to be trustworthy, is a missed alternative.
I can see the attraction of realizing who’s calling with out reaching for the cellphone, particularly when it sits face down whereas I work. However as soon as I transfer past that use case, HiLight begins to really feel like Google is asking a tiny ring of LEDs to do an excessive amount of. Favourite-contact message alerts are additionally coming later, making the {hardware} really feel forward of its use circumstances. Tom’s Information referred to as it gimmicky after making an attempt it, and I perceive why.
Larger sensors, and a 120x asterisk
Digital camera {hardware} is the place the cash went. The usual Pixel 11 will get a bigger 48MP important sensor Google charges at 56% higher mild sensitivity, plus 30x Tremendous Zoom off its 5x telephoto. The Professional pair strikes to an all-new 50 MP large digital camera and a redesigned 48 MP zoom lens with a much bigger sensor pulling in 30% extra mild. Portrait Mode now works at 5x, and Evening Sight captures as much as 4 and a half instances sooner on Tensor G6.
Then there’s Professional Zoom at 120x. That quantity is AI upscaling at work, so treating it as equal to a 120x lens can be a mistake. Magic Seize and Digital camera Appears to be like curiosity me extra, since one grabs a video plus a number of stills from a single faucet and the opposite saves reusable movie kinds you’ll be able to swap between. Magic Seize, specifically, would turn out to be useful after I’m doing a hands-on overview and have to document a video of a gadget whereas additionally taking images.
Tensor G6 arrives with a benchmark downside
Google’s claims for Tensor G6 focus on effectivity and AI throughput. The chip guarantees 25% sooner net looking, 15% faster app launches, 50% extra TPU compute, and on-device Gemini Nano work as much as 3.5 instances sooner whereas drawing as much as 3.5 instances much less vitality. I’ve at all times mentioned that in order for you an Android cellphone with an iPhone-like expertise and a fantastic digital camera, the Pixel is a wonderful alternative. For gaming, although, Samsung is forward. Tensor G6 might assist make the Pixel collection extra aggressive there.
Uncooked pace stays the sore spot. Geekbench listings for the Pixel 11 Professional XL that surfaced forward of the keynote put the chip at 2,112 single-core and 5,196 multi-core towards 2,995 and eight,562 for the iPhone 17 Professional Max and a pair of,808 and 10,212 for the Galaxy S26 Extremely. Ought to that multi-core hole maintain up in retail items, Google is delivery about half the Galaxy’s throughput at flagship cash.
Nonetheless tall, nonetheless slim: Pixel 11 Professional Fold
Anybody who follows my foldable takes is aware of I’ve wished Google to decide to the passport form… and it didn’t. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8 went squat and large, Apple’s folding iPhone will observe go well with, and the Pixel 11 Professional Fold retains the tall, slim physique that opens right into a boxy 8-inch panel. Google shipped the broader format on the unique Pixel Fold, then walked away from it, and I’d like to know who the mastermind behind that call was.
I ought to anyway give credit score to the engineering beneath. The Fold is about 1 mm thinner and about 10% lighter than the Pixel 10 Professional Fold, in response to Google, with a glass-fiber composite again designed to withstand cracking, a gearless hinge that protects the interior show, and a ceramic cowl glass on the outer display. Each shows hit 3,600 nits, a 20% leap, and the corporate charges the entire package deal as thrice extra sturdy than final yr’s mannequin.
Sturdiness is the argument that tends to win Google clients. IP68 mud and water safety at $1,899 undercuts the Galaxy Z Fold8 Extremely by $200 whereas providing higher sand- and grit-resistance, and a seashore journey stops being a raffle.
Signal-to-text additionally debuts right here, letting a signer use American Signal Language in entrance of the outer digital camera and floor translations on the quilt show via Dwell Transcribe and Gboard.
Satellite tv for pc ray paths in your wrist: Pixel Watch 5
Pixel Watch 5 arrives at $399 for the 41 mm and $429 for the 45 mm, with a Stephen Curry Particular Version 45mm at $579 due on cabinets September 3. Inside is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 Accelerated processor in a dual-chip format with 50% extra RAM and a 12% CPU bump, which Google totals as 20% sooner. Battery figures are available in at as much as 30 hours on the 41mm and 40 on the 45mm.
GPS is the improve I maintain rereading. Google claims twice the route-tracking accuracy of earlier generations in troublesome environments by tracing satellite tv for pc ray paths via the 3D constructing fashions behind Google Maps, then correcting readings towards a worldwide community of climate and GPS reference stations as circumstances change. Uncooked measurements get compressed on the watch, processed on a server, and returned to the Google Well being app.
My grandfather spent his profession as a geodesist, so multipath error and atmospheric correction have been dinner-table subjects in my home lengthy earlier than wearables existed. Seeing a 41mm watch apply differential corrections and concrete ray tracing impresses me, and Google claims the outcome beats each the Apple Watch Extremely 3 and the Garmin Fenix 8 Professional. Unbiased route testing will settle that declare, however the engineering behind it appears to be like like greater than ornament.
Respiration Emergency Detection stops on the US border
The flagship well being function can detect a persistent, harmful drop in blood oxygen utilizing PPG, accelerometer, and barometer information with an on-device algorithm, then name emergency providers and share your location when you don’t reply. Escalation runs in phases, beginning with a haptic buzz and a full-screen alert, adopted by an audible alarm and a 30-second countdown. To restrict false alarms, the watch confirms you’re in a low-motion state with out speedy altitude modifications and haven’t been asleep for greater than half-hour.
American patrons received’t get it. The function hasn’t been cleared by the Meals and Drug Administration, so the launch covers ten European international locations together with the UK, Germany, France, and the Netherlands, and it reaches Pixel Watch 4 homeowners too. Google additionally cautions that the function isn’t meant for individuals with preexisting respiratory circumstances.
Blood strain tendencies, insulin resistance tendencies, and sleep respiration high quality tendencies fill out the brand new Well being Guardian umbrella, arriving later this fall for Fitbit Air and Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5 as month-to-month summaries as an alternative of reside readings. Google says the insulin resistance mannequin was pretrained on over a trillion minutes of knowledge from 5 million opted-in customers and validated towards scientific blood assessments in a Nature paper. Daniel Jones, a former president of the American Coronary heart Affiliation, notes that no wrist machine carries an AHA advice for blood strain monitoring, with arm cuffs nonetheless the diagnostic customary.
Low-cost, late, and smarter about batteries: Pixel Tag
Google Pixel Tag (1-pack)
5 years after the AirTag, Google determined to offer Pixel homeowners a finder tag of their very own. Pixel Tag prices $29, or $99 for a four-pack, and it ships November 11.
Two particulars elevate it above a straight AirTag clone. A bodily button rings your cellphone in reverse, and the tag retains sending low-battery reminders each two weeks till it dies, which beats the one warning Apple’s tracker presents. Sharing extends to 10 individuals, Left Behind alerts might be switched on, and unknown tags touring with you set off a warning in your cellphone.
Quieter updates: Pixel Buds Professional 2 and Gemini connections
Pixel Buds Professional 3 will wait one other yr, as Pixel Buds Professional 2 get an Olive end and a software program refresh as an alternative of a successor, a tactic I’ve come to anticipate from Sony.
Dynamic ANC compensates when the ear seal shifts, Gemini handles voice-driven audio settings, and Dwell Translate helps greater than 70 languages, with playback via your cellphone at near-conversational pace. I’m not a lot of a Gemini person, so Dwell Translate is the function I’m maintaining a tally of. I’ll quickly resolve whether or not it’s ok to earn Pixel Buds Professional 2 a spot in my information to translator earbuds. Orders at the moment are open, with the software program replace rolling out in September.
Gemini additionally picks up a batch of linked providers over the approaching weeks. Granola, Otter.ai, and Wix cowl conferences and web sites, Fever, Get Your Information, Localiza, OpenTable within the UK, and Ticketmaster deal with bookings, iHeartRadio and Pandora carry streaming, and Angi, Thumbtack, and Zocdoc attain into dwelling providers and physician appointments. Gemini can now place orders and dial companies in your behalf, with last approval left to you.
What got here earlier than, and what’s nonetheless unproven
Google’s high-end design language is now in its third yr with solely the edge-to-edge digital camera bar glass and contemporary colours to differentiate it. Apple revamped its Professional iPhones 12 months in the past, and the iPhone 18 collection is anticipated to hold that look right into a second era, whereas Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Extremely shipped earlier this yr with a privateness display. Familiarity is a good criticism of a lineup that has raised costs.
The identical goes for a few of Google’s larger claims. Tensor G6 effectivity, GPS accuracy, Fold sturdiness, and a number of other well being options nonetheless want real-world testing, whereas options corresponding to energy coaching teaching and HiLight aren’t out there at launch.
