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Google's Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL have less RAM despite price increases

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Why This Matters

Google's Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL have reduced RAM compared to previous models, reflecting industry-wide component shortages and increased costs. Despite higher prices, these devices feature notable upgrades like better displays and cameras, but consumers should consider the RAM trade-off for resource-intensive tasks. This shift highlights ongoing supply chain challenges impacting hardware configurations across the tech industry.

Key Takeaways

Inevitably, due to soaring prices of components like RAM and storage, Google's smartphones are more expensive this year. The Pixel 11 phones that were just introduced today all start at $100 more than the equivalent Pixel 10 devices. The Pixel Watch 5 costs $50 more than the last model too.

The new devices start at:

Pixel 11: $899

Pixel 11 Pro: $1,099

Pixel 11 Pro XL: $1,299

Pixel 11 Pro Fold: $1,899

Pixel Watch 5: $399

Aside from upgrades like a new chipset, brighter displays and wider cameras, there are some trade-offs to note. The Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro start with 256GB of storage, double that of the previous gen, which makes them more or less similar in price to last year. Meanwhile, the new Pro XL, Pro Fold and their predecessors all start with that much space for your stuff.

On the other hand, Google has actually reduced the amount of RAM in the base versions of the Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL. Those have 12GB of RAM, compared with 16GB of RAM in the equivalent 9- and 10-series devices. You can opt for a more expensive version with 16GB of RAM if you wish.

You may not notice the difference too much if you typically use your phone for less resource-intensive tasks like messaging, browsing the web and streaming video. But if you're editing video or playing games, maybe you'll feel the pinch of having less RAM.

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