There’s no need for the Google Pixel 11 Pro
17/9/2026
Translation: Megan Cornish
Pictures: Michelle Brändle
There are only minor differences between Google’s two Pixel 11 devices – and Google’s removed one of the coolest hardware features.
Google’s added a built-in telephoto camera to the latest Pixel 11. This wasn’t on its predecessor – the Pixel 10 – which makes it virtually the only reason to opt for the Pro. This makes the differences so subtle that you hardly need the Pro version.
Design and display: I prefer the 10 Pro
At first glance, the two devices look almost identical. The Pixel 11 Pro has a matt glass back and a polished aluminium frame. The Pixel 11’s the opposite. If it were up to me, both parts would be matt and bright pink. It feels better and shows fewer fingerprints.
This is where I think the major hardware downgrade comes in: the Pixel 11 Pro features the new HiLight on the back, next to the camera bar. The LED ring uses coloured light to indicate when a message comes in. I don’t find it particularly useful. On the Pixel 11, the LED ring’s no more than a camera flash. And to make room for it, Google removed my favourite feature: the thermometer. Thanks for nothing.
According to the specifications, the Pro’s display has a slightly higher resolution than the standard Pixel 11. However, I don’t notice any significant difference when watching a 2K video. Both the Pixel 11 and the 11 Pro display images and videos sharply with vibrant colours and good contrast.
Same chip and almost identical battery life
Google’s equipped both devices with its most powerful chip to date: the Tensor G6. This ensures smooth everyday use and fast processing of AI tasks. In benchmark testing, it outperforms its predecessor – the Tensor G5 from the Pixel 10 series – especially in terms of multitasking.
However, a comparison with the competition shows it’s not particularly powerful. The current market-leading Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 (used in the Xiaomi 17, among others) beats Google’s chip by some distance.
Both phones struggle with graphics-intensive games such as Wuthering Waves. I have to significantly reduce the display settings for the game to run even partly smoothly.
According to my benchmark (PCMark), the Pixel 11 Pro has a battery life of 18.5 hours. The standard Pixel 11 manages 19 hours and 50 minutes. It also has a slightly larger battery at 4,840 mAh compared to the Pro’s 4,707 mAh.
These results are only minimally different to those of their predecessors. The Pixel 10 Pro lasted 17 hours, the standard version 19 hours and 30 minutes. Generally speaking, I can easily use both the Pixel 10 and Pixel 11 for a full day and beyond.
There are bigger differences between the Pixel 11 and the Pixel 11 Pro when it comes to storage space and RAM:
The standard model only comes with 12 gigabytes (GB) of RAM. The Pro’s also available with 16 GB. This currently makes no difference, but it becomes more significant with more demanding applications that use a lot of AI features. As for storage, Google offers the Pixel 11 Pro in a 1 TB version, in addition to the 256 GB and 512 GB options.
The Pro version’s hardly worth it, even for the cameras
The Pixel 11 Pro has better lenses and larger sensors in all four cameras. At least on paper. The differences are often barely noticeable in practice.
The 11 Pro’s main camera takes slightly brighter and sharper photos, but they lack contrast. I don’t notice any difference with the wide-angle camera, even when I zoom in a lot. The only advantage of the 11 Pro is that you can make use of the full 50 megapixels. That said, you have to explicitly enable this in the camera app, and any resulting photos take up twice the storage space.
If good resolution’s important to you because you plan to print the photos later or use them in a large size on your computer, the Pixel 11 Pro’s the better option. This is mainly because you can save the photos at full resolution. This isn’t an option with the Pixel 11, but you won’t notice any difference on the phone itself.
Overall, both models are a good choice for photos. The images have natural sharpness and colour reproduction. With the competition, I often notice yellow tints and oversharpening.
The Pixel 11 Pro scores slightly better in terms of zoom, with photos becoming marginally sharper. The claim that the Pro model can zoom up to 120x is total nonsense: the photos become unusable and unnaturally over-sharpened. I find the 30x zoom – also available with the standard Pixel 11 – to be the upper limit of usable zoom for both models.
Both devices have the latest software
Both phones arrive installed with Android 17 and Google’s user interface, but there are differences in the AI applications. The most useful features on both are Circle to Search, Gemini, the Magic Editor and Live Translate (for text, audio and video).
Some advanced features are only available on the Pro model. Others are outsourced to the cloud by the standard Pixel 11 because it has less RAM.
Features only available on the Pixel 11 Pro:
- Video correction for lighting, noise and dynamic range
- Upscaling for HDR content to 8K
- Generative redesigning of image backgrounds
- Adding or replacing complex objects in high resolution
Features the Pixel 11 outsources to the cloud – which are available on the Pixel 11 Pro itself:
- Complex video processing (tricky night videos, AI rendering)
- Complex prompts in the Magic Editor
- Multi-step interactions with Gemini across multiple apps (for example, planning a trip including booking, calendar entry and route calculation)
Verdict: the Pro’s biggest benefits are on paper
Google has also equipped the standard Pixel 11 with a telephoto camera, bringing it extremely close to the Pro model’s level. In everyday use, I hardly notice any difference between them. In terms of performance, battery life and display quality, I’d need a magnifying glass to tell them apart. Plus, its slightly larger battery means the Pixel 11 even lasts longer.
You need to use the full 50 megapixels and AI zoom to benefit from the upgrade to the Pro’s cameras. The additional (and locally usable) AI features on the Pixel 11 Pro and its local video rendering sound good at first, but cloud storage is fine for everyday use. The key tools are available on both devices.
In short, unless you absolutely need a terabyte of storage, 16 GB of RAM or 50-megapixel lenses, you can confidently go for the regular Pixel 11. It saves you money and you’re barely missing out on anything at all.
Alternatively, the previous models will easily do the job. The Pixel 10 and 10 Pro aren’t noticeably slower in everyday use, and the Pro still has the built-in thermometer that the newer models lack. However, there’s no 512 GB version of the standard Pixel 10, and availability isn’t great any more. Currently, only the 128 GB version of both models is still available in all colours.
Header image: Michelle Brändle
Ever since I learned how to hold a pen, I've been doodling away in bright colours. Thanks to my iPad, digital art has also become part of my life. That's why I love testing tablets – from the graphic design range to the regular kind. When I feel the urge to express my creativity without lugging lots of equipment, I go for the latest smartphones and start snapping away.
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