With Google’s Pixel 11 launch event only hours away, the leaks are still dribbling out of Mountain View’s increasingly soggy bucket.
According to 9to5Google the dark satanic rumour mill has manufactured a hell on earth yarn clarifying a couple of details around the base Pixel 11, including whether it gets Google’s shiny new “HiLight” feature.
HiLight, previously called Pixel Glow, is a rear-facing LED trick that has leaked several times. Its usefulness still looks rather limited, unless you are desperate for your phone to do a tiny light show.
A leak on X from @evowizz claims the base Pixel 11 will not get HiLight. That makes the glowing gimmick a Pro-only feature, which is not exactly shocking.
Anyone hoping Google’s cheaper Pixel would get the new party trick may need to lower their expectations.
The same leak clears up the base Pixel 11’s RAM allocation. Earlier rumours suggested Google might drop the entry model to 8GB, which seemed barmy given its endless AI trumpet-blowing.
Instead, the base Pixel 11 apparently sticks with 12GB of RAM across the range. The Pixel 11 Pro is expected to get 16GB only on pricier storage tiers.
It’s worth noting, though, that the most “intensive” features that used to run in the background on-device have been moved to cloud processing, namely Magic Cue, Pixel Screenshots, and likely the whole new “Gemini Intelligence” stack.
What is unclear is if they are going to extend Pixel Screenshots to the 9a and 10a and extend Magic Cue and Gemini Intelligence to the 9 base/Pro.
Because if the reason for not having Pixel Screenshots on 9a/10a was that they didn’t have enough RAM (8GB) to keep the model “always-on” in the background for strictly on-device-only processing, then that now no longer applies as the processing is entirely done in the cloud and could be easily supported by 9a/10a too.
The base Pixel 11 is tipped to keep a 10.8MP telephoto camera sensor, unchanged from last year’s Pixel 10.
Google is due to officially unveil the Pixel 11 series later this week, assuming there is anything left to unveil.
