Google Pixel 11 review
Display
The display doesn't really appear to have changed from last year. The Pixel 11 still gets a 6.3-inch OLED panel - compact by modern standards. The resolution is 1080 x 2424 pixels in a popular 20:9 aspect ratio, which works out to 422 ppi of pixel density. You still get 120Hz refresh rate with standard LTPS tech, not the fancier LTPO tech.
Google says the Pixel 11 can output 2,000 nits when the whole display is lit up and 3,000 nits peak - again, same as the Pixel 10. We did our standardized measurements and got around 2,100 nits out of the Pixel 11 in a 75% window in auto mode and a peak of around 2,800 nits in a 10% window. Pretty much exactly what the Pixel 10 managed. While far from chart-topping figures, these are more than adequate to deliver a solid HDR experience and for the phone to be perfectly usable outdoors.
The minimum brightness we measured at point white is 1.7 nits.
Max display brightness test
White test pattern (nits)
- Manual (75% fill)
- Auto (75% fill)
- Peak Auto (10% fill)
Pixel 11 Pro
Pixel 9
Pixel 10a
Pixel 11
Pixel 10
iPhone 17e
iPhone 16e
Refresh rate
The Pixel 11 can refresh at up to 120Hz. Unfortunately, it does not support any "middle-ground" refresh rate modes like 90Hz. All it can do is 120Hz and 60Hz with the LTPS panel not offering anything below or between those.
The refresh rate mode setting is just a single toggle switch. No extra modes, no per-app settings and whitelists. The automatic switching behavior between 120Hz and 60Hz is also very simple. The Pixel 11 doesn't seem to care what is happening on screen, only if you are interacting with the display or not. Touch it, and it shoots up to 120Hz. Leave it alone for a few seconds - down to 60Hz. Far from the most efficient implementation around.
We tried some high refresh rate games as well, but with little luck. Most titles ended up locked at 60Hz.
HDR and streaming
The Pixel 11 has excellent HDR support. The display is certified for HDR10+. The phone itself can decode HLG, HDR10 and HDR10+ (just no Dolby Vision). The HDR implementation is flexible as well; you can have HDR on only a segment of the display, it does not require fullscreen.
The Pixel 11 also has he highest possible Google Widevine L1 DRM certification, allowing services like Netflix to offer up FullHD streams.
Battery life
The Pixel 11 has virtually the same battery as its Pixel 10 predecessor. Google says that the new one is 4985 mAh, compared to 4970 mAh on the old model, but we suspect these are actual "rated" capacity numbers, meaning a sort of guaranteed minimum. In terms of typical capacity, it would be perfectly fair to market both phones as having a 5,000 mAh battery.
This is by no means a high-capacity battery by modern standards. Competitors are 6,000 mAh and beyond in similar form-factor devices with more modern chemistry. The Pixel still uses an old-school cell with not Si/C. But putting that fact into potentially better context, the iPhone 17 and Samsung Galaxy S26 also use these batteries and don't even come close to the 5,000 mAh mark.
The Pixel 11 also seems to make pretty good use of the battery it has. It does better than its Pixel 10 predecessor in every one of our individual tests.
Charging speed
The Pixel 11 supports 30W wired charging through USB Power Delivery (PD 3.0), plus PPS, and Google claims it should be able to charge up to 55% in thirty minutes. Exactly like the Pixel 10 last year. And while the Pixel 10 almost managed to hit the officially advertised mark, the Pixel 11 actually exceeded it, packing almost 60% charge in thirty minutes.
A full charge takes an hour and twenty minutes - again a bit better than last year's models. So Google seems to have tweaked something in the charging behavior for the better. It is also worth noting that the vanilla Pixel 11 charges just as fast as the Pixel 11 Pro.
Charging speed
- in 15 min
- in 30 min
- Time to full charge (from 0%)
Xiaomi 17
iPhone 16
iPhone 17e
Pixel 11 (Extreme)
Pixel 11 Pro (Extreme)
Pixel 10
Oppo Reno16 Pro
It's worth noting that Google's own 30W Pixel charger may not be enough to get the very best charging performance out of the phone. Last year, we found that Google's 67W charger was able to sustain peak charging power for longer, helping the phone reach the advertised 55% in 30 minutes. A 67W adapter is obviously overkill for this use case, but a 45W charger supporting PPS at up to 11V/3A (33W) should do just fine.
This year, the Pixel 11 series introduces a new Extreme Charging mode, which can be enabled for individual charging sessions when the battery level is below 50%. The option appears in the Battery settings after the phone has completed its first few charge and discharge cycles. Once available, it can be enabled either through a dedicated quick toggle or via a button that briefly appears on the lockscreen.
In our testing, Extreme Charging mode didn't really increase the max wattage going into the phone. However, the Pixel 11 was able to hold higher wattage for a longer part of the charging cycle, ultimately reducing the charging time.
Google did upgrade the wireless charging support this year. The Pixel 11 supports the Qi2.2 standard and can charge at up to 25W. That's a pretty good upgrade from last year's 15W.
The Pixel 11 also supports bypass charging and reverse wired charging. No reverse wireless, though.
There are a few battery health features available. You can enable automatic adaptive charging that charges to 90% and only tops off the battery before you wake up. And you can also set a charging cap at 80%. No custom percentage available or anything like that. At least Google is kind enough to list a battery health percentage right in the menu - few makers do that, but keep in mind that its reliability is always going to be questionable, as there's no real way for the phone to accurately measure such a thing.
Speakers - loudness and quality
The Pixel 11 has a hybrid stereo speaker setup. There is one dedicated speaker on the bottom and another front-facing one above the display, hidden away. This does mean that there is an intrinsic imbalance in output. The bottom speaker definitely has the richer soundstage with better bass response.
Just like the Pixel 11 Pro we recently reviewed, the vanilla Pixel 11 is a bit quieter than its predecessor. Not by a lot, but still enough to push it into the "Good" section of our scoring system. On the plus side, overall sound quality has improved a bit.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
Connectivity
The Pixel 11 is a 5G device. It has support for SA/NSA Sub-6 connectivity on two concurrent channels. There is also eSIM support. You can have multiple eSIM profiles saved, but again only a maximum of two active at the same time. The US variant of the Pixel 11 lacks a physical SIM slot and only supports eSIM, while the EU version we got still has a single physical eSIM slot.
Location services include GPS (L1+L5), GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS and NavIC. Local connectivity has Wi-Fi 6E (not the latest Wi-Fi 7). That said, the vanilla Pixel 11 does get access to the 6GHz still largely uncongested band on top of the traditional 5GHz and 2.4GHz. Bluetooth is version 6.0 with LE and aptX HD support. There is NFC on board. No FM radio receiver, 3.5mm audio jack or IR blaster.
The Type-C port on the Pixel 11 is backed up by a USB 3.2 Gen 1 data connection, also commonly referred to as USB 3.1 Gen 1 and USB 3.0. What that essentially means is a theoretical data throughput of 5 Gbps. Also, in keeping with Pixel tradition, the Pixel 11 has video output via DisplayPort Alt Mode. Pretty convenient on top of the wireless display casting capabilities.
The Pixel 11 has a pretty stacked set of sensors. These include a TDK ICM45631 accelerometer and gyroscope, a MEMSIC MMC5616 magnetometer and compass combo, an AMS TMD3743 light and hardware proximity sensor and a Goermicro SPA18001 barometer.
