What to Know About the Pixel 11 Pro’s key lure might be mediocre
Google has offered us the clearest look at its big new feature for the Pixel 11 series – and has confirmed that the regular model might be the one to go for.
Ahead of Made by Google 2026 on 12 August, where the Pixel 11 series is set to be featured, the company has just released a revealing teaser video.
The 30-second snippet runs through all of the Google services that many of us (including iPhone users) use. Think Gmail, Google Maps, and Gemini.
It then draws the really quite reasonable (in a way) conclusion as to what your next logical step should be. Buy a Google Pixel phone, of course!
Pixel’s Glow up
Whether you buy Google’s argument or not, the main interest here lies in the latter half of the video. Here we get a good look at the Google Pixel 11 Pro’s silhouette.
Only the outline of the phone and its signature camera bar are visible – plus the one signature feature. Google’s so-called ‘Pixel Glow’ (though recent leaks suggest it might be called ‘HiLight’) feature has been heavily leaked, and this is our best official look at it yet.
We see the camera flash lit up in multiple colours, confirming that some kind of advanced LED notification system is in play.
This was largely known before this teaser. What was only suspected was that it would be exclusive to the Pixel 11 Pro – something Google has effectively just confirmed by labelling this video ‘Google Pixel 11 Pro – The Next Obvious Move’.
if any manufacturer adds a flashing light system onto the back of a phone, you’d better believe I’ll be turning it off
If you’re at all dubious about the worth of such face-down notification systems – or just Google’s execution of it – then this could serve as all the encouragement you need to choose the regular Google Pixel 11 over the Pro.
Failing to take the temperature
As we’ve noted before, Google is rumoured to be ditching one of the Pro line’s most overlooked and unique features for this ‘Pixel Glow’ system. In comes a psychedelic notification indicator, out goes the thermometer that was introduced with the Google Pixel 8 Pro.
Clearly not everyone found this feature useful. But as the youth vernacular goes, if you know you know (IYKYK).
Foundry
Using the Pixel Pro’s dedicated infrared sensor to measure the temperature of everyday objects – and even people – could be genuinely useful when you remembered it was there.
Would I choose to swap that for a notification light? Not personally. I’ve never seen the point of such systems in rival phones, such as Nothing’s Glyph interface.
On the rare occasion that I’m putting my phone face-down on a table, it’s because I don’t want to be disturbed or distracted by it in any way – I’m choosing not to engage with my phone. As such, if any manufacturer adds a flashing light system onto the back of a phone, you’d better believe I’ll be turning it off.
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Faint Glow
Of course, there’s a chance Google will find something novel to do with this light. The tiny size of it, though, has me dubious that it’ll be able to match Nothing’s more extensive-looking Glyph system, which has supplied various forms of animated indicators and timers over the years.
I’m not willing to state that the Pixel 11 is going to be the preferable model just yet. I’ll need to see what improvements have been made elsewhere first (new camera tech would be nice), as well as the extent of those confirmed price hikes.
What I’m dubious of is that the ‘Pixel Glow’ system is going to figure into my decision at all. And indifference would possibly be an even more damning response than outright hatred.
