Google Pixel 11 Pro XL review

Display

The Pixel 11 Pro XL features the same 6.8-inch OLED display as the Pixel 10 Pro XL. It offers 1344 x 2992 pixels, a 120Hz refresh rate, and supports HDR10+ content.

The panel is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2. Google claims the screen glass has gotten an extra scratch-resistant coating this year that should provide twice the scratch resistance compared to the Pixel 10 Pro series.

Google promises 2,400 nits of maximum automatic and 3,600 nits of peak brightness - a minor improvement over the Pixel 10 Pro XL official numbers, which were 2,200 nits and 3,300 nits, respectively.

We measured 2,333 nits of max automatic brightness, which is top-tier performance for sure. The peak brightness with a 10% white patch was 3,118 nits - a superb one for sure - but on par with what the Pixel 10 Pro XL offers.

From the chart below, it's clear that Google Pixel phones are still the industry leaders in max display brightness. We still think Google could go the extra mile and add an anti-reflective coating on its displays like Samsung and Apple.

The minimum brightness was just 1.7 nits, which is very good.

You can change the screen resolution from the Display options - High means 1080p, while Max means 1,344p. An odd choice of labels, for sure.

Refresh rate

There is only one refresh rate-related option: Smooth Display. If you disable it, you will put a 60Hz cap on the maximum refresh rate.

Either way, the LTPO display is incredibly dynamic - it uses 1Hz for static content, 24Hz/30Hz/48Hz/60Hz for video streaming, we saw 30Hz and even 50Hz while browsing; and, of course, if Smooth Display is ON, the maximum is 120Hz for UI and compatible apps and games.

The screen will always strive to match the current frame rate of what's on screen - if the game drops to 37fps, then the panel will change its refresh rate to match those figures.

HDR and streaming

The Pixel 11 Pro XL supports HDR10+ and Android Ultra HDR content. The new Android 17 also allows Instagram and Facebook to shoot in HDR and immediately post such content.

All popular apps, Netflix and YouTube included, recognize the screen as HDR10 and HDR10+ capable, and they do serve such content if available.

Battery life

The Pixel 11 Pro XL is powered by a 5,115mAh battery, marking a small decrease in capacity over the 10 Pro XL's 5,200mAh cell. Google promises longer battery life than the previous model thanks to better chipset efficiency.

And indeed, in our battery of tests, the Pixel 11 Pro XL earned an Active Use Rating of 15:45h, a notable increase over the Pixel 10 Pro XL. The new XL model aced all on-screen tests. Compared to the current flagship crop, it's in the same ballpark as the S26 Ultra, but behind the Androids with larger batteries such as the Xiaomi 17 Ultra.

Charging speed

The Pixel 11 Pro XL supports up to 45W fast wired charging and up to 25W fast wireless charging via Qi2.2. The phone has the magnets built right into it, just like the iPhones.

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 menu after the phone has completed its first few charge and discharge cycles. Once available, it can be turned on or off for each charging session using a dedicated quick toggle or from a button which briefly appears on the lockscreen.

In our testing, with Extreme Charging enabled, the phone drew the same maximum of around 39.7W (17.5V/2.27A) as regular charging. However, with regular charging, the charging power starts to taper off and go down earlier.

Still, even without Extreme Charging enabled, the Pixel 11 Pro XL charges faster than last year's model. It went from 1% to 41% in 15 minutes and reached 72% after 30 minutes, while a full charge took exactly 63 minutes. Enabling Extreme Charging produced slightly better results at the interim checkpoints, but the total charging time remained almost unchanged.

Finally, charger selection matters if you want to achieve the highest possible charging speed. We performed all our tests using Google's 67W dual-port charger, which supports USB Power Delivery, AVS, and PPS. In theory, any 45W USB-PD PPS charger should be powerful enough to maximize the Pixel 11 Pro XL's charging rate. In practice, however, many 45W chargers only support voltages of up to 11V, or 16V on some newer models. Google's 45W charger is a suitable option because it can deliver up to 21V/2.25A. Alternatively, you can use a 65W or 67W USB-PD PPS charger, as most models in this category support outputs of up to 20V.

As for battery longevity features, the Pixel 11 Pro XL offers either a hard 80% charge limit or adaptive charging, which learns your routine and delays charging to 100% until shortly before you typically unplug the phone.

And if you want to use bypass charging to minimize heat and its potential impact on performance, you can set the battery limit to 80%. Once it reaches that level, the phone draws only enough power from the charger to keep itself running, rather than continuing to charge the battery.

Speakers - loudness and quality

The Pixel 11 Pro XL offers your typical hybrid stereo setup with one full-blown speaker at the bottom and an amplified earpiece at the top.

Unlike on other phones, the earpiece does not feature a secondary outlet for louder and more balanced output.

The speakers on the Pixel 11 Pro XL scored a "Very Good" mark on our loudness test. The audio quality is solid as well, featuring plenty of bass, clear vocals, and well-presented highs.

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.