GoKawiilA slew of new phones and gadgets were revealed at the Made by Google event on Wednesday, including new Pixel phones, a foldable, a smartwatch and a personal item tracker. Following industry trends, most of these are pricier than their predecessors.
Like every other corner of the broader tech industry, phone makers have had to grapple with the RAM shortage and subsequent increased prices for memory and other components. Google acknowledged the shortage, noting that its pricing reflects that current reality. For the record, Samsung said much the same, citing the RAM shortage to justify the price increase for its foldables that launched last month.
The Pixel 11 fronts Google’s new phone lineup and starts at $899, a $100 bump over last year’s Pixel 10 — though it also comes with 256GB of storage, which is twice the minimum of its predecessor. In short, Google scrubbed the 128GB option and is forcing everyone to buy a higher tier as the new entry point. That will probably dim the chances of Google’s latest baseline flagship from living up to being a “feature-packed value monster,” as CNET Director of Content Patrick Holland described the Pixel 10.
While the Pixel 11 and 11 Pro more or less kept their predecessors’ prices the same, the Pixel 11 Pro XL and Pixel 11 Pro Fold both got flat $100 price hikes across all their storage options.
The Google Pixel 11 Pro. Andrew Lanxon/CNET
But another sign of the shortage’s increased toll is a reduction in RAM. Last year’s Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL both came with 16GB of memory, which you’ll still get in the 512GB and 1TB versions of the new Pixel 11 Pro and 11 Pro XL — but the starting 256GB versions come with only 12GB of RAM. In a briefing ahead of the event, Google said that its 2026 Pro phones are faster and smoother than last year’s thanks to optimizations in silicon and software. We’ll have to wait for our full reviews to test that claim.
All four phones can be preordered now, with a full release on Aug. 20. We’ve assembled a list of preorder offers from different retailers and carriers, or you can click below to secure one directly from Google.
The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold. Rene Ramos/CNET
Prices for the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL and Pixel 11 Pro Fold
The Pixel 11 starts at $899 for 256GB of storage, which is the new entry point. While there’s no 128GB option, there is a higher 512GB option that’s new for this year, priced at $1,019, over $100 more.
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