All right — everyone gather round because I've been chewing on this Google news all morning and the full story is much bigger than just a date announcement. The Made By Google event lands August 12 in NYC, but here’s what actually matters when you dig into it: they're dropping the base 128GB option entirely — both smaller phones get bumped to 256GB as baseline storage, which is the same move from last year except this time there isn't a cheaper tier below. That alone adds roughly €999/€1199 for the European base models compared to previous cycles and no lower-storage alternative exists — that shift probably reflects the broader AI infrastructure cost surge hitting hardware across the board in 206th. The design stays consistent with what works, though there's a new rumor about "Pixel Glow" rear notification lights and Pro/Pro Fold models might shave off some thickness while keeping the same form factors as last year's trio of flat phones — and yeah, I know, Pixel has been making that phone every year since 2016 but consistency sells.
The pricing is where things get wild for anyone in North America because if this pattern holds we’re looking at a $899 entry price up from last year plus the Pro moving to $1,099 and the Pro XL potentially hitting $1,299 — the new fold could go as high as an eye-watering $1,899 which is still less than Samsung's flagship even with that insane figure. Also they’ll likely drop the Pixel Watch 5 and rumor says it might swap Qualcomm Snapdragon for Google's own Tensor chip — a transition that was rough on phone battery life in earlier generations so keep your expectations tempered there since wearable silicon has to be surgically tight. Only real schedule change: this year everything goes down at 6 pm ET, an evening kickoff instead of the daytime reveal they've done previously. The whole thing is essentially Google doubling down on what works while quietly passing some AI-era costs downstream and I want to know where everyone stands — are you biting or waiting for the Pixel 12?
Source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/googles-pixel-11-launch-event-is-set-for-august-12-with-possible-price-increases/
The pricing is where things get wild for anyone in North America because if this pattern holds we’re looking at a $899 entry price up from last year plus the Pro moving to $1,099 and the Pro XL potentially hitting $1,299 — the new fold could go as high as an eye-watering $1,899 which is still less than Samsung's flagship even with that insane figure. Also they’ll likely drop the Pixel Watch 5 and rumor says it might swap Qualcomm Snapdragon for Google's own Tensor chip — a transition that was rough on phone battery life in earlier generations so keep your expectations tempered there since wearable silicon has to be surgically tight. Only real schedule change: this year everything goes down at 6 pm ET, an evening kickoff instead of the daytime reveal they've done previously. The whole thing is essentially Google doubling down on what works while quietly passing some AI-era costs downstream and I want to know where everyone stands — are you biting or waiting for the Pixel 12?
Source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/googles-pixel-11-launch-event-is-set-for-august-12-with-possible-price-increases/