I just got the best and worst news imaginable about the $1,000 Pixel 11

12 GB would be more than enough in most cases

I'm totally against Google for reducing the RAM in the 256 GB storage option of Pixel 11 Pro models. This action seems even more wrong when you know that smartphones cost $100 more than their predecessors. So you are basically paying more money for less RAM.

But at the same time, 12 GB RAM is more than enough to perform most of the tasks. It can easily handle multitasking, keep the apps running in the background, load apps faster, and smoothly run all the AI features that Google is promoting a lot recently. The difference between the performance of the Pixel 10 Pro that features 16 GB RAM and the Pixel 11 Pro that features 12 GB RAM might be even more negligible because of the new Tensor G6 chip, which Google claims is roughly 20% faster than the Tensor G5 in CPU performance.

But it'll be interesting to see how negligible or major the difference would be between the performance of the 12 GB and 16 GB Pixel 11 Pro models. Most likely, heavier apps and games would close slightly faster in the 12 GB variant. We'll certainly try to share more details about it in our in-depth review of the latest Google phones. So, stay tuned for that.

Pixel continues to disappoint with its gaming performance

The gaming aspect of the Pixel 11 lineup is the bad news, which I mentioned in the title of this story. I have openly criticized Pixel phones for their extremely poor gaming performance, especially when trying high-end mobile games. Despite the new processor, my hopes were not very high about the gaming performance of the new Pixel phones after knowing that Google is still using the PowerVR GPU.

A few videos showcasing the gaming performance of Pixel 11 Pro models have surfaced online, and looking at the results, I think I was completely right in keeping my hopes low. Popular creator Tech Spurt played multiple games on the Pixel 11 Pro, and the result, as he describes, was "catastrophe." He started with Call of Duty Mobile, and the phone was reportedly able to handle it pretty well by offering a stable frame rate throughout the gaming session.

But things went completely downhill when he switched to Wuthering Waves, which is one of the most graphics-intensive mobile games. He barely got over 40 FPS, and there were also instances when the frame rate dropped to single figures. The lag was so much that it reportedly made the game totally unplayable.

Shockingly, Genshin Impact failed to load at all many times on the new Pixel phone. After a few attempts, when the game actually loaded, it started showing a pink screen. Obviously, the lag and frame drops were there as well.

Another popular creator, TechDroider, experienced the same while playing the game on the Pixel 11 Pro XL. They mentioned that this might be happening because Genshin Impact no longer supports the PowerVR GPU that is used in the Google phones.

Please don't bring up the "Pixel isn't for gaming" argument.

Whenever I talk about the poor gaming performance of Pixel phones, the reply I get from die-hard Pixel fans is that Pixels are not known for gaming. Come on, man, give me a break. If I am spending $1,000 on a smartphone, then I would want it to excel in all the departments, not just in AI, photography, and overall software experience.

Google's competitors like Apple and Samsung also offer incredible AI features, and can capture incredible images, and the experiences of One UI and iOS are as good as the stock Android experience you get in Google phones. But the good thing is that flagship phones from both these brands can easily handle all kinds of games, unlike Pixels.

In short, it's high time that the Big G starts giving importance to the gaming department as well. Whether it would be able to achieve this by making some revolutionary changes to the Tensor chip or by ditching it completely for Qualcomm is a decision that Google needs to take.