I woke up early on Wednesday to help get my daughter ready for school. I was enjoying a lazy morning, content in the thought that I had hours to go before the Made By Google event launching all the new Pixels. Instead of gearing up to write and shoot reactions at 10am, Google was pushing “GO” at 3pm pacific. I’d even be able to enjoy a lunch while writing up a few notes. No rush at all. Nice.

While enjoying my morning coffee I scrolled through some feeds, and saw that the reviewer embargo had already lifted on Pixel 11 Pros. The “reviews” were already live, and the event wasn’t going to happen for another seven hours.

What’s the point of doing the event?

Quick flashback, if you are a gadget fan, and you’re into consumer electronics, last year’s Made By Google event should have been concerning to you. Not because Google was pivoting to a non-techie audience and trying to make lifestyle appeals for all their upcoming AI products. It should have been concerning that last year was the tenth anniversary of the Pixel, and Google couldn’t have been bothered to mention that with any celebration or fanfare.

Ten years of Pixel, and there was barely a blip for that accomplishment.

When Apple arrived at the tenth iPhone, we got a massive redesign of the phone, and influencers were secreted off to talk about the iPhone X, and there was a TON of fanfare over the milestone. People were EXCITED for iPhone X.

For Pixel 10, Google hired Jimmy Fallon to look confused on stage for about an hour, and we called it a day with a rehash of the Pixel 9 design and more AI.

Back to the present, Pixel 11 WILL BE announced six hours from my writing this, but all the influencers that Google PR hand picked to have early access have already dropped their “reviews” of an unfinished product (which after a week one update will render all those “reviews” obsolete). Google knows the search interest for their flagship phones will die after about week. They made the algorithms. They know how poorly their own products rank.

Google doesn’t care about the Pixel.

I loathe commenting on brands like they are people.

There is no singular “Mr. Google” pulling levers, operating the whole endeavor. I’ve met MANY Google engineers who are brilliant and passionate people, and just like a country’s government, a massive organization like Google is a giant blob of divisions and departments with varying amounts of power.

It’s hard to ignore the company’s current trajectory though. After ten years of offering a first party phone, from the company that “makes Android”, Google has done little to move the market-share numbers globally.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent over the last five years, but at the end of this journey, the Pixel is a DISTANT fourth place phone manufacturer on their own home turf here in the USA.

A cynical play for more AI…

I just recently published a long-term review on the Pixel 10 Pro XL. Owning the phone since launch, I had a lot of (critical) thoughts on the Pixel experience. I was pleasantly surprised that my cranky ranting seemed to resonate with some of my viewers, and a lot of folks contributed to the list of frustrations I had detailed.

I also got some pushback from fans of the Pixel, which I expected, but they all fit a common theme.

“The Pixel is not a ‘power user’ device, which barely covers the daily needs of undefined ‘average’ folks, and no one would really ever buy one at full price.”

All the defenders LOVED their Pixel Pros (many of whom were still on 8 Pro and 9 Pro), but NONE of them loved the Pixel enough to spend near Google’s MSRP.

That hit me pretty hard.

Contrastly, I’ve imported Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo devices that cost me well over $1000 each, and many of them absolutely felt like products deserving their ULTRA price tags. Pixel’s staunchest defenders in my comments all commented on how the MSRP of the Pixel was a cynical lie from Google.

Google prices a mid-ranger phone at the same level as an iPhone Pro, so you feel good about scoring one on a CRAZY sale.

I hate that I just pre-ordered a Pixel 11 Pro…

I’m a reviewer, and I’m buying one of these so I can hopefully convince others to sit this generation out. I’m pretty confident my review of the Pixel 11 Pro XL will be a critical and frustrating video to create (and to watch if we’re being honest).

We also know that there wont be nearly as much traffic coming to Pixel videos on YouTube by the time the phones ship to people who actually spent money on the phone. That’s the early access sweetheart deal you get. If you’re on the PR list, your videos will get more attention and make more money at the peak of interest in the topic. Google doesn’t need to pay for coverage or sponsor creators, because YouTube viewership will reward the creators Google grants access to.

Google PR does not reply to any of my messages, so I don’t have to worry about sugar coating the experience to preserve any early access. I digress…

To all of the Pixel Knights’ points though, I looked up the used sale prices on my Pixel 10 Pro XL, and Google is offering a better trade in. The Pixel 11 Pro XL with more RAM (which will help this underpowered hardware perform a little better) and 512GB of storage is listed for roughly $1400 MSRP. After all the deals and store credit and promotions and trade in, I’m out of pocket $540.

Yikes.

We know that’s not good right?

The psychology might feel like “wow I scored a HUGE deal”, but the reality of this is damning.

Google knows this phone is basically a $500 mid-ranger, but they also know they can get a few of their followers to spend a lot more right at launch. They know they have sycophants that will parrot the marketing points about how “average” people don’t need performance, don’t make content on their phones, don’t play games, and don’t need better battery life or faster charging.

It’s telling that the main upgrade for the Pixel 11 seems to be the cell radio. The CPU looks like it’s a downgrade. The GPU looks slower. The cameras haven’t changed, and the battery is smaller than the Pixel 10 series.

The cell radio got better…

Google isn’t juicing their stock price by selling phones and earbuds. Google’s gains come from headlines about AI and data centers.

“It’s ok if your phone is underpowered and has poor battery life doing tasks ON the phone. What you really need is a more stable and consistent data connection so you can send all that work up to the cloud!

Wouldn’t it just be better if you paid more every month for higher tiers of Gemini and Google Cloud subscriptions?”

Worse still, the pressure mounts every year to keep trading in the old phone for a new one because the “value” drops so quickly. Because of AI and data centers, we’re pricing consumers out of luxury tech like high end desktops and laptops. We’re creating a market of perpetual leasing.

I’m no conspiracy theorist, but it is starting to feel like the mission of Pixel is to normalize poor performance, so folks will turn to cloud AI alternatives.

I’m finishing my morning coffee now.

I’m not conflicted in posting this editorial before the event broadcasts later this afternoon.

I’m sure it’s going to be a cringe-inducing, celebrity-driven mess of “value” and “feelings” statements which have little to do with the practical daily needs and concerns of “average” consumers. It’ll be a hate watch on my Discord while we all mock the hosts trotting out inane AI scenarios, knowing full well that the “average” people referenced by Pixel defenders won’t know it’s even being broadcast.

Google doesn’t have any confidence in this device, or in the event announcing it, so why should I?

That’s my reaction to Made By Google 2026.