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Tom’s Guide

Technology

Tom Pritchard

Pixel 11 specs leak reveals what upgrades to expect — and some concerning downgrades

Google Tom Guide John Velasco

It's rare for us to go into a Google Pixel launch event without knowing pretty much everything the upcoming phones will have to offer. The Pixel 11 launch may still be a few months away, but it seems that this year will be no exception to that trend now that tipster Mystic Leaks has posted a full list of specs for the upcoming phones.

As expected, Mystic Leaks has specs for four separate Pixel 11 models: The standard Pixel 11, the Pixel 11 Pro, a larger Pixel 11 Pro XL and the Pixel 11 Pro Fold. According to these leaked specs, all four will come with a Tensor G6 chipset, built on TSMC's 2nm node. Mystic Leaks seems to corroborate past rumors, claiming that the chip will feature seven cores instead of the usual eight: A single ARM C1-Ultra core (4.11 GHz), four ARM C1-Pro cores (3.38 GHz) and two ARM C1-Pro cores (2.65 GHz).

Each phone is also said to come with a Titan M3 security chip, an aged PowerVR C-Series CXTP-48-1536 from 2021 and a MediaTek M90 modem. They will also include a new "Tensor Processing Unit," Google's name for its own neural processing units, and a new GXP image signal processor.

Mystic Leaks also claims that the Pro models will ditch the thermometer this year, which is making room for the rumored Pixel Glow RGB LED array. He also says that Project Toscana, which was developed as a Face ID-style infra-red facial recognition, isn't ready and won't be arriving this year.

Pixel 11 series leaked specs — what we know

(Image credit: Tom's Guide / John Velasco)

	Pixel 11	Pixel 11 Pro	Pixel 11 Pro XL	Pixel 11 Pro Fold
Display	6.3" OLED, 1080×2424	6.3" OLED, 1280×2856	6.8" OLED, 1344×2992	2076×2160 OLED, (Internal), 1080×2342 OLED (Cover)
Refresh Rate	60-120Hz	1-120Hz	1-120Hz	1-120Hz (Internal), 60-120Hz (Cover)
Display Brightness (nits)	2,000 (HDR / 3,100 (Peak)	2,450 (HDR), 3,600 (Peak)	2,450 (HDR), 3,600 (Peak)	Internal: 2,050 (HDR), 3,500 (Peak) Cover: 2,450 (HDR), 3,600 (peak)
RAM	8 / 12GB	12 / 16GB	12 ./ 16GB	12 / 16GB
Chipset	Tensor G6	Tensor G6	Tensor G6	Tensor G6
Battery	4,840 mAh	4,707 mAh	5,000 mAh	4,658 mAh

The standard Pixel 11 is listed as coming with a 6.3-inch OLED display, with 1080 x 2424 resolution, a 60-120Hz refresh rate, 2,000 nit brightness and 3,100 nits of peak screen brightness. That's mostly the same as last year, with an additional 100 nits of peak screen illumination.

Other specs include a 4,840 mAh battery, which is smaller than the Pixel 10's 4,970 mAh, 8/12GB of RAM, and a brand-new main camera. Details on that camera aren't disclosed, but Mystic Leaks speculates that it could be 50MP.

The Pixel 11 Pro is said to come with a 6.3-inch OLED display with 1280 x 2856 resolution, a 1-120Hz refresh rate, and 2,450 nits of brightness, which increases to 3,600 nits at its peak. The Pixel 11 Pro is the same, with a larger 6.8-inch 1344 x 2992 resolution. If these specs are accurate, it means both phones get a minor bump to screen brightness compared to last year.

Both phones are also expected to come with either 12 or 16GB of RAM, new main and telephoto camera lenses, and a small downgrade in battery capacity. The Pixel 11 Pro is listed as having 4,707 mAh, and the Pixel 11 Pro XL supposedly has 5,000 mAh. That's decreased from 4,870 mAh and 5,200 mAh, respectively.

The Pixel 11 Pro Fold's screen size isn't listed, but it is claimed to have a 2076 x 2160 foldable display and a 1080 x 2342 cover display. There's a width variation of a few pixels on both screens, with the foldable display measuring slightly wider than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold's, while the cover display is slightly narrower. This shouldn't make a huge amount of visible difference, though, and bezel size is likely the cause of the variation.

Brightness is rated for 2,050 nits (3,500 peak) on the foldable display and 2,450 (3,600 peak) on the cover display. Mystic Leaks claims that there's a new camera on the way, a choice of 12 or 16GB of RAM and a 4,658 mAh battery. That's considerably lower than the 5,015 mAh battery in the Pixel 10 Pro Fold.

Pixel 11 specs leak — our thoughts

When it comes to leaked specs you have to err on the side of caution, because there's no telling how accurate they might be. That said, there's nothing particularly out of the ordinary with what's listed here, with the leak offering a fairly reasonable number of upgrades — including screen brightness and brand new camera lenses.

The various claimed downgrades have given me some pause for thought, however. The obvious one is that claims of RAM reduction, and if this proves accurate, my guess is that lower-storage variants will have to deal with the memory downgrade. In the face of RAMageddon and the skyrocketing cost of memory, this isn't really a huge surprise.

Dropping the Tensor G6 to six cores, instead of the usual eight, also seems like a downgrade. But it's worth noting that the seven cores listed offer faster clock speed than their Tensor G5 equivalents. That chip had a single 3.78GHz core, five 3.05 GHz cores and two 2.25 GHz cores. How much of an impact this change will have on performance isn't clear, and we won't know for sure until the phone undergoes some thorough testing.

Sadly, the inclusion of the CXTP-48-1536 GPU doesn't fill me with confidence. Rumors have pointed to this GPU before, and the fact that it was first released back in 2021 makes it positively ancient by computing standards — and hardly the kind of tech you'd expect in a premium flagship.

The loss of battery capacity is also pretty worrying, especially given Google's poor track record with battery life. Things have been improving over recent generations, but the Pixel still lagged quite far behind all the other phones with the best battery life. While there's still a very good chance that Google will make up for the loss with better power efficiency, especially with a 2nm chipset, I'm going to have to see some valid results before my mind is put at ease.