The Pixel 11 series might look familiar on the outside, but Google’s packed plenty of changes both behind the scenes and under the hood, and nowhere is that more evident than when you dive into its cameras. From new processing styles and a full creator-focused editing suite to that fancy new HiLight LED flash, there’s a lot new this year.
Let’s start on the hardware side, because it’s rare Google pays this much attention to its array of camera sensors. The Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro Fold both get new 48MP 1/1.56″ main sensors that feature 56% better light sensitivity compared to their predecessors. That’s great news on both fronts — the Pixel 10’s main sensor was a bit lackluster as part of the trade-off for a true telephoto lens, while Google’s foldables have simply never focused on camera performance to the same degree as its non-foldable siblings. The base Pixel 11 also features a slimmer camera bar, despite the larger sensor.
The Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL are also new camera hardware, including a new 1/1.3″ main sensor that Google says presents excellent image quality even while cropped at 3x. The telephoto camera is all new, with a 5x 48MP 1/1.95″ sensor that should pull in 30% more light than on the Pixel 10 and zooms all the way into 120x with AI-assisted processing. All three Pro models are also getting HiLight, Google’s RGB-enabled LED flash designed to alert you to incoming calls from specific contacts and sync up with your Gemini interactions. It doesn’t sound like a massive selling point right now, but it could get more impressive over time.
