Thinking of buying the base Pixel 11? Here are 6 Pro camera features you’ll miss

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The Google Pixel 11 series is finally here, and there’s a lot to be excited about. All four phones get the Tensor G6 chipset , Gemini Intelligence, and a raft of other software features.

Google’s new phones also have intriguing camera additions like Magic Capture and Camera Looks. Unfortunately, you’re missing out on a lot more camera features if you opt for the base Pixel 11 over the Pixel 11 Pro or Pro XL.

If you’re thinking about picking up the regular Pixel 11, here are a few camera features you’ll miss out on that the new Pro phones offer.

The Pixel 10 Pro phones debuted 100x Pro Res Zoom , as Google used generative AI to deliver sharp images out to 100x. This wasn’t merely a real image with AI-assisted processing, but rather an effectively generated picture based on a real scene. Nevertheless, the base Pixel 10 didn’t get this feature at the time.

Google has now announced 120x Pro Res Zoom, and it’s exclusive to the Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL. For better or worse, the vanilla Pixel 11 misses out on this feature in favor of 30x digital zoom. I can understand not offering 100x or 120x Pro Zoom given the Pixel 11’s low-resolution 5x camera, but even 20x or 30x Pro Zoom would be a decent addition for people who don’t mind generative imagery.

Pixel phones have long shipped with high-resolution cameras (48MP or higher), but Google defaults to taking pixel-binned 12MP or 12.5MP photos instead. What if you really want to take a full-resolution 48MP or 50MP picture, though?

Only Google’s Pro and Pro XL phones can take full-resolution snaps, and this also applies to the Pixel 11 generation. We could maybe understand this disparity a few years ago when the Pixel 8 had less RAM than the Pixel 8 Pro, but it certainly doesn’t make sense in 2026. It really feels like an arbitrary restriction to sell more Pro phones.