Google’s last Pixel 11 Pro mystery may have a cheeky new name

We’ve already seen almost everything about the Pixel 11 series, including official renders of the Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro Fold, and Pixel Watch 5. One of the last mysteries is the new LED light on the back of the Pro phones, but that’s starting to unravel as well.

Pixel Glow may have a completely different name after all

Google may not call its new LED light and the features related to it the same way we’ve been referring to it over the last few months. Instead of Pixel Glow, the feature may be called HiLight.

The name was shared in an X post by software engineer Dylan Roussel, who warned folks may be disappointed by the news. While Pixel Glow was spotted around Android 17 before, Roussel has a decent track record of unearthing features from betas and apps.

What is this Pixel Glow or HiLight feature all about?

References to the new LED light on the back of the upcoming Pixel 11 Pro phones were first spotted in the Android 17 Beta 4 release. Strings of code in the software described the feature as subtle lights and colors that would light up when a phone is facing down.

Even after a couple of official teasers that showed the so-called Pixel Glow in action, we still know relatively little about it. Some of the earlier clues suggested it could handle alerts for calls coming from select contacts and give visual feedback while using Gemini.

What’s now certain is that the feature will come in a circular light inside the camera bar on the Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold. Some of Google’s teasers have already shown it with multiple colors, but we may have to wait until August 12 to learn all the details.

Many users on Reddit don’t seem to be very excited about the Pixel Glow, asking Google to focus on better specs instead of adding lights on the back of the phones. However, several users also thought lighting up the whole ring around the camera bar would’ve been a much nicer way to execute the same idea.

Pixel Glow sounds much better

I get the idea, but HiLight sounds quite bad to me. Pixel Glow feels like a much better name and spares me from a cheap wordplay that doesn’t really connect. That’s why I hope this rumor turns out to be wrong.

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