For years, Google Pixel phones were considered to have the best smartphone cameras. That was especially true if you were taking pictures of objects in motion, like pets or kids, but things seemed to peak with the Pixel 8 Pro series. I called that camera the best in the business, but competitors have since eclipsed it.
Now that the Pixel 11 Pro is out and includes a new ISP, upgraded hardware, and a ton of new software features and enhancements, Google is coming back to claim its crown, and it's mostly successful in this task.
It begins with a little magic
Of all the new features, Magic Capture is by far my favorite. Two and a half years ago, Honor debuted a similar feature that would automatically take photos based on facial expressions and motion, and Google is redefining that feature with something a little more predictable (and user-friendly).
Magic Capture can be accessed via the third button on the bottom bar in the camera viewfinder, making it a separate main mode from photography or video recording. That's because it combines both of these modes into one, giving you a full video of your photo session, plus highlight photos chosen specifically by Gemini.
Since this is run by AI, it's not going to take photos at the same time you might want, but it's probably going to catch something unexpected you might have missed if you were taking photos manually.
During the capture session, you can change zoom levels and even take manual photos at points where you want to ensure a photo gets saved. Magic Capture can be used in portrait or landscape orientations. It's easily my favorite camera feature in years, and truly a great reason to buy a Pixel 11 Pro.
Loving that fine detail
One of my favorite things about Pixel photos is the fine detail present in places most smartphone cameras miss. Too many companies try to make pictures look "perfect" by scrubbing away all the noise, but this results in photos that look artificial or "watercolor-like." The Pixel 11 Pro rarely makes this mistake.
In the two examples above, you'll see what I'm talking about. At 1x, the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Google Pixel 11 Pro photos look nearly identical, but zoom in a bit, and you'll see some stark differences. The iPhone's noise-canceling algorithm scrubs all the texture off those bricks, making them look fake and sterile. In the Pixel 11 Pro's photos, the bricks show their natural texture, and the photos look excellent.
This also gives the Pixel 11 Pro's photos a more film-like quality than the overly digital look most smartphones aim for, making them feel more authentic.
Picture-perfect portrait
For the past several years, Google Pixel phones have had arguably the worst portrait quality among major brands. Edge blurring was a mess, and Google's software, puzzlingly, had difficulty understanding where the subject ended and the background began. This year, that's completely changed, and I'm happy to report that Google's portraits are finally competitive again.
It seems the true problem here was a combination of camera hardware and the ISP (Image Signal Processor). As you can see above, the Pixel 10 Pro's shot is a mess, with weird edge blurring and messy cutouts around my hat. The Pixel 11 Pro's shot has none of that, and it looks fantastic.
The selfie camera also looks much better this year compared to the Pixel 10 Pro's, which regularly suffered from a weird digital/pixelated look. You probably don't zoom into selfies all that much, but if you ever find youself doing it, they'll look much nicer on a Pixel 11 Pro.
Telephoto me a story
Last year, I was extremely disappointed by the Pixel 10 Pro's telephoto camera. It often snapped blurry photos — something Pixel phones historically haven't had a problem with — and the overall zoom detail failed to match that of phones like the Galaxy S25 Ultra. This year, things are more competitive, but the Pixel 11 Pro still falls short of most Chinese brand smartphones (Honor, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi).
Across the hundreds of photos I've taken so far for this review, I've noticed a few trends between these phones. The Honor Magic 8 Pro often captures the most detail and offers the widest usable zoom range, but it tends to slightly overexpose shots and is a bit too vibrant. The iPhone 17 Pro Max tends to be the weakest telephoto camera, and Apple's processing is a little less aggressive with sharpening.
The Google Pixel 11 Pro sits in the middle ground between these two, often delivering more detail than the iPhone but less than the Honor. It also seems to have better overall exposure values in these shots, giving it a more natural look. The iPhone tops out at 40x zoom, though, so let's take a look at what happens beyond that.
At 30x and beyond, the Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro, and Honor Magic 8 Pro all allow you to use generative AI to enhance shots. For the most part, I find that this helps provide believable detail to images, so long as you don't zoom in too far.
The Honor Magic 8 Pro's larger telephoto sensor already pulls in more detail than the Pixel 11 Pro's, giving it an advantage right off the bat. The difference in detail and overall quality between these phones is obvious in the photos above, and it's here where Google loses to Chinese OEMs who use better hardware.
But at 120x zoom, things are more competitive. Since this zoom level is a bit silly anyway, I'm not taking much stock in the performance, but it's fun to look at the differences in each company's AI algorithms. Clearly, Honor understands what a roof texture is supposed to look like, but Google apparently knows how to get other building details just right.
A good year for Pixel cameras
Magic Capture is by far my favorite new camera feature of the last several years, making photo sessions fun and effortless for everyone. It's a perfect evolution of the shot-framing feature from last year and a great example of how AI can help people in everyday situations.
Overall, the Pixel 11 Pro's camera is quite excellent, and while the telephoto performance is still a bit disappointing at times, it's better than most of the competition here in the U.S., which is likely what Google is aiming for, anyway.
