Google Pixel 11 Pro review

The Pixel 11 Pro is the latest flagship smartphone from Big Tech, AI-pusher Google.

As you might expect from a company eager to sell itself as a leader in artificial intelligence, it pushes AI to the forefront of everything it does.

And if you’re a power user looking to boost your productivity or a vlogger who likes to engage in some “touch-up” work before posting to TikTok, that’s, no doubt, a big selling point.

But here at What Hi-Fi?, the big question has nothing to do with any of that. Like you, our AV-loving readers, all we want to know is: is it any good for music and movies on the go?

After putting it through its paces against key rivals, including the spiffy new iPhone 18 Pro, we have an answer.

Price

Unlike the Google Nexus, or early Pixels of yesteryear, the Pixel Pro’s price places it firmly in flagship smartphone territory. The 256GB, with 12GB RAM, entry-level version we have in for testing costs £1079 / $1099 / AU$1849.

You can then get the 512GB version, with the same 12GB of RAM, for £1199 / $1219 / AU$2049, and the top-of-the-line 1TB version, which comes with 16GB RAM, for £1429 / $1449 / AU$2399.

The equivalent 256GB Apple iPhone 18 Pro costs £1199 / $1199 / AU$2099, and its biggest Android rival, the five-star Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, retails for £1279 / $1300 / AU$1799.

The only handsets that cost more right now are foldables, including the five-star Galaxy Z Fold 8, which retails for £1699 / $1899 / AU$2699, Pixel 11 Pro Fold, which sells for £1799 / $1899 / AU$2799, and the Apple iPhone Duo, which costs $1999 / £1999 / AU$3499.

Design

If you asked a kid to draw a phone, they would probably deliver something that looks like the Pixel 11 Pro. No folding screen, no clever design flourishes, just an iPhone-like rectangle with curved sides, a giant bump on its back for the camera sensors and a glass front. Twin speakers adorn its short bottom edge – which are easy to catch when watching video in landscape if you’re right-handed – with an earpiece speaker for calls on the top.

That distinctive olive green colour (which we’re fans of) apart, this is a nicely unassuming handset that ticks most of the right boxes for usability. The metal feels rugged, and the under-screen fingerprint sensor is nicely reactive, responding to commands even when used in the rain – which its IP68 water and dust resistance rating ensures it will survive.

It’s also a fair bit smaller than many handsets, including the S26, and its larger Pixel Pro XL sibling, measuring a pocket-friendly 153 x 72 x 8.4mm and weighing 204g. The only real annoyance for music fans of a certain age, or people with hi-res libraries, is that, like most phones these days, it doesn’t have an SD card slot. But that’s standard in 2026, where streaming is the norm.

Features

Pixel devices traditionally have been famous for two things, both of which have nothing to do with AV: running on an unskinned version of Android, and having stellar cameras.

We can confirm this remains the case with the Pixel 11 Pro, which runs on a completely unskinned version of Android 17 and has one of the best rear camera setups you’ll find on a phone.

That ‘unskinned’ part is important. It should help the Pixel receive software updates, security patches and app support faster and for longer than skinned rivals – the extra code on a skin can cause unexpected problems for developers.

The camera’s strong performance is due in equal parts to both its hardware and software. Around the back, you will find a triple-sensor rear camera, comprising a 50MP main, 48MP telephoto and 48MP ultrawide. Up front there’s a 42MP selfie shooter placed in a hole-punch housing at the top short edge of the phone’s 6.3-inch Super Actua (Google marketing speak for OLED) display. The AI boost comes from the Pixel’s custom Tensor G6 chipset.

Taking snaps in auto mode, the camera does a decent job retaining detail, looking crisp and creating simple bokeh effects without the need to ever touch the manual options. Low-light images also look a cut above rivals, being blissfully noise-free, without being overbrightened.

There are also extensive, AI-powered editing options, which make it a doddle to turn a selfie into a deepfake that even GCHQ would struggle to identify.

That aside, the chipset powers a wealth of AI-focused productivity and quality of life features. For starters, Google also claims it's 20 per cent more power efficient, 25 per cent faster at browsing and 15 per cent faster at running apps than its predecessor. You should take this with a grain of salt, as during testing we have found that the phone is slightly buggy, with games in particular prone to stuttering and occasional crashes. The gaming performance is a particular shame, as the screen does support 120Hz refresh rates.

Sadly, on top of this, most of the core features aren’t focused on screen or audio quality. In fact, jump to Google’s Pixel 11 Pro information page, and you’ll struggle to find a mention of either.

Instead, the focus is on the useful, but not for our audience, features, including an intelligent physical RGB notification ring on the back. This is linked to the HiLight Studio app, which lets it intelligently change colour to show when a priority contact is calling, or when it’s listening to what’s going on around it, for things such as voice commands or dictation.

There’s also Rambler and cross-app continuity baked into the phone at a hardware and software level. Rambler is a feature that tracks your speaking patterns to improve dictation. Cross-app continuity allows compatible installed apps to communicate with one another via Gemini, letting it do things including throwing up suggested quick actions in the taskbar based on what you might normally do next.

All useful stuff – but again, not especially relevant to the phone’s performance as a home cinema in hand, or portable music player.

Picture

So what can a 2856 x 1280 resolution “Super Actua” display actually do? As it turns out, a fair bit. The handset makes a strong opening impression as we start streaming Dune: Part 2 on Netflix.

Things initially look a little off in its Adaptive screen setting, but once we switch to the Natural preset, colours take on a pleasingly neutral, realistic tone. The desert dunes ooze with detail and hold a nice warmth, and there’s a pleasing sense of three-dimensionality and balance to the picture.

The phone’s 2400 nits high-brightness HDR mode also makes it insanely bright and punchy, with peaks burning with an intensity and level of detail that even the latest iPhones don’t quite match.

But there are issues. Switching to Blade Runner 2049 on Amazon Prime Video, the phone initially continues its strong start; the turquoise iris during the opening scene and panning shot of the flying car zooming over the dystopian landscape retain wonderful amounts of detail, and the phone ably handles the motion, with no unpleasant artefacts of artificiality creeping in.

But as it transitions to the dim farmhouse scene, though black depth is what we might expect from an OLED and there is decent dark detail, the screen starts to struggle due to the low bitrate. Blocks and noise start to appear in the darkest sections of the picture; it’s an issue that doesn’t occur on the rival Apple and Samsung handsets we test it against.

Further testing reveals that the issue seems, thankfully, to be localised to Amazon Prime Video, but there are still some issues.

The Pixel, like most Android phones, doesn't support Dolby Vision, limiting itself to HDR10 and HDR10+. This is a minor annoyance due to the prevalence of Dolby Vision on Apple TV, Disney+ and the like, and ongoing support for the technology on iPhones; but it’s not a deal breaker as the phone will shift to HDR10 when presented with Dolby Vision content.

But, in doing so, it can’t quite match its Apple rival. Watching F1: The Movie on Apple TV, the Pixel does an okay job, retaining detail, and once again handling the tricky motion showing the race cars zipping around the track with enough heft to do it justice, but it’s dimmer and flatter than we’d like. The entire scene lacks the contrast and warmth required to match the best of the best home cinemas in a handset currently available.

Sound

We have yet to find a Google Pixel handset that wows us the way modern iPhones do with their audio performance. That remains the case with the Pixel 11 Pro, which is a safe, but unremarkable option for music fans.

Starting with SMV’s Thunder streaming at its highest quality via Tidal, with a pair of USB-C cabled over-ears connected, the low end isn’t the most powerful we have heard, making everything sound a little flat. Which is a shame, as it otherwise gets a lot right.

Each interlinking part of the intense triple-bass arrangement manages to remain separated enough for us to hear the individual instruments. Despite some attacking scoop sections, it never pushes itself too hard, so veering into harshness or distortion – something that often happens with cheaper Android handsets. The phone also handles the tricky, precise slap sections with enough agility to just about get our feet tapping.

However, as we transition to Prince’s Get On The Boat, the sound plays it very safe, with the grooving intro lacking the dynamism to get us to stand up and pay attention the way it should – and, indeed, the way it does on the iPhone 17 Pro we test it against.

As the track progresses, the Pixel struggles to deliver a wide enough soundstage to give each part room, and we can’t create an accurate stereo image. Each section seems to be congesting in the middle, creating a slightly mushy wall of sound, rather than the intended big funk band experience.

Moving to Taylor Swift’s, the1, “safe” and “unremarkable” remain the two words being muttered by our reviewers. Though the Pixel doesn’t get anything explicitly wrong, the sound lacks the necessary dynamics to do Swift’s vulnerable vocals justice, and there’s still not quite enough separation between the parts.

It’s this lack of warmth, dynamism, and ultimately emotion missing from the sound that lets the Pixel down and stops it from matching its Apple rivals as a music player.

Verdict

For movies on the go, the Pixel 11’s bright, sharp OLED screen can deliver a nicely immersive, three-dimensional image with surprisingly good motion handling. But it’s not quite on the same level as some rivals. Modern iPhones offer a more cinematic experience, with an added level of contrast and solidity, as well as Dolby Vision support.

As a music player, it is distinctly average. It never gets anything outright wrong, but it lacks the dynamics, warmth and ultimately fun necessary to get you truly immersed in what it's playing.

As a phone for productivity and capturing special moments with your friends and family, the Pixel 11 Pro is great. But for AV aficionados looking for a home cinema in a hand or portable music player, this is a good, rather than best-in-class option.

SCORES

• Picture 4
• Sound 3
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the iPhone 18 Pro

Also consider the Galaxy S26 Ultra

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