Am I loopy, or are Google Pixel cameras getting worse?
Pixel phones constructed their status on photographs that seemed higher than their {hardware} ought to permit. Five years after the Pixel 6 Pro, that edge feels thinner, so it’s price asking whether or not Pixel cameras are literally slipping or the competitors merely sprinted forward.
The {hardware} is barely enhancing
Five years of practically an identical foremost digicam {hardware}
Google’s flagship cameras have rested on remarkably steady floor since 2021, and albeit, you’ll be able to solely go to this point with minor {hardware} upgrades on high of software program optimizations. The Pixel 6 Pro launched a roughly 1/1.3-inch 50-megapixel foremost sensor, and each Pro mannequin since has stayed near that dimension. The Pixel 11 Pro continues the sample. Google’s spec sheet lists a 50MP Octa PD extensive digicam with a 1/1.3″ sensor, and though Google fitted a brand new foremost sensor this yr, it’s the identical dimension because the earlier one, and the 48MP ultrawide and 42MP selfie cameras carry over unchanged from the Pixel 10 Pro.
The one significant change sits behind the 5x lens. The telephoto sensor grows from 1/2.55 inches on the Pixel 10 Pro to 1/1.95 inches on the Pixel 11 Pro. That’s a real enchancment, and testers observed it: the Pixel 11 Pro XL scored 168 factors in DxOMark’s digicam evaluation, 5 greater than the Pixel 10 Pro XL. Still, one sensor swap in a yr, on a lineup that has saved the identical primary recipe for half a decade, is iteration somewhat than ambition.
And after we get to the bottom mannequin, the story is a tad extra difficult. The Pixel 10 added a 3rd rear lens over the Pixel 9 however quietly shrank the primary sensor and minimize the ultrawide from 48MP to 13MP. The Pixel 11 clawed a few of that again, with a 48MP f/1.7 foremost digicam utilizing a 1/1.56-inch sensor as a substitute of a 1/2-inch one. Yet it nonetheless lands mid-pack. With 154 factors, it sits solely twenty eighth in DxOMark’s rating, tied with the iPhone 15 Pro and three factors behind the cheaper iPhone 17. DxOMark additionally flagged seen colour casts and inaccurate pores and skin tones in low gentle, together with weaker element from the ultrawide digicam.
So the sensation that Pixels are getting worse isn’t totally imagined, even when it isn’t actually true for each mannequin. Standard Pixel patrons actually did get a weaker foremost digicam final yr. Pro patrons get good photographs that enhance slowly, constructed on {hardware} that has barely moved. Google has all the time relied extra on software program optimization than precise {hardware} — a part of the rationale why Gcam mods have been so in style again within the day. But with everybody else including {hardware} optimization alongside software program optimization, Google must sustain.
It’s additionally not useful that the precise software program processing appears to be worsening. What is getting worse, although, is that Google seems to be relying a ton extra on generative AI for picture processing, and that is exhibiting. Thereare a ton of complaints on Reddit and different consumer boards from customers pissed off with the Pixel 11 Pro’s picture processing, because it seems to be, for one, absolutely butchering zoom in some pictures — a transparent signal that they is likely to be counting on AI upscaling forpost-processing. Yikes.
Other cameras are transferring a lot quicker
Rivals are pouring cash into sensors and optics
While Google tweaks one lens per technology, its rivals are rebuilding complete digicam techniques. Oppo’s Find X9 Ultra is essentially the most excessive instance. It pairs a 200MP foremost digicam at f/1.5 on a 1-inch sensor with a 200MP 3x periscope on a 1/1.28″ sensor, which is bigger than the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s foremost sensor. On high of that, Oppo features a 50MP periscope telephoto with 10x optical zoom. That’s two devoted zoom cameras, every with {hardware} that might have been thought-about flagship-grade for a foremost digicam just a few years in the past.
Vivo is pushing simply as onerous. The X300 Ultra makes use of Sony’s 200MP LYTIA-901 sensor at 1/1.12 inches for its foremost digicam, plus a 200MP periscope telephoto constructed on a 1/1.4-inch Samsung sensor. Vivo additionally leans into equipment, providing non-compulsory teleconverters that stretch the lens to 200mm and even 400mm, and helps 4K 120fps recording throughout all of its rear cameras. Crucially, each telephones are not China-only curiosities, because the X300 Ultra marks the primary time Vivo’s Ultra tier has launched in international trading floors.
Even the extra conservative gamers are transferring. Samsung saved its acquainted 200MP sensor within the Galaxy S26 Ultra, however it widened the apertures, claiming the primary digicam will get 47% extra gentle and the longer telephoto 37% extra.
I do know what a few of you may suppose. Yeah, I do know megapixels aren’t every part, and the megapixel race has been a useless finish for over a decade. But even cellphone makers that are not pushing these MP numbers are making {hardware} strikes. Apple, for one, made the boldest optical change in years. The iPhone 18 Pro presents 4 aperture values: f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8, and f/4, utilizing bodily blades somewhat than software program blur. Not precisely a brand new characteristic, however one thing we’d see far more on Android telephones quickly. Apple additionally lastly added handbook management over shutter pace and aperture in its native digicam app.
The scoreboard displays this. On DxOMark’s charts, the Oppo Find X9 Ultra leads in telephoto, and the Vivo X300 Ultra leads in ultrawide. The Pixel isn’t shedding as a result of it bought worse in absolute phrases. It’s shedding floor as a result of everybody else determined {hardware} issues once more.
What Google can do right here
Bigger sensors, higher ultrawides, and smarter tuning
Google’s digicam technique, as I discussed earlier, has all the time been a wager on software program. HDR+, Night Sight, and Super Res Zoom let modest sensors punch above their weight, and for years that benefit was sufficient. The downside is that computational images is not a Google unique. Every main producer now stacks frames, makes use of machine studying for noise discount, and runs devoted picture processors. When everybody has the intelligent software program, the cellphone with the larger sensor and higher glass often wins.
The most blatant repair is a bigger foremost sensor. One-inch-class sensors have moved from experimental to anticipated within the camera-focused tier, and Google’s 1/1.3-inch foremost digicam now seems small subsequent to them. A much bigger sensor would give Google’s processing extra actual gentle to work with, which is precisely the place its algorithms shine.
The ultrawide deserves consideration too. Even on the Pro XL, DxOMark famous a lack of superb element in all lighting situations with the ultrawide digicam, and it’s the one rear digicam Google hasn’t touched this yr. The Pixel 11 Pro’s telephoto improve reveals the payoff of investing in a single lens, so making use of the identical remedy to the ultrawide could be a smart subsequent step.
For the usual Pixel, the precedence is less complicated: cease reducing corners on the digicam that the majority patrons truly use. Low-light colour accuracy and pores and skin tones are areas the place Google’s tuning was a energy, they usually’re price fixing earlier than including new modes.
Software nonetheless issues, after all. Features like Camera Looks, which let customers construct their very own movie kinds for HDR+ photographs, present Google can innovate on the expertise aspect. But actually, no quantity of AI trickery can get extra gentle right into a digicam. Google has the processing expertise. It now wants to provide that expertise higher uncooked materials.
Pixel cameras aren’t worse, simply standing nonetheless
Pixel photographs haven’t collapsed, however the {hardware} behind them has barely modified whereas rivals invested closely in sensors, periscopes, and optics. Google’s software program lead has narrowed. A much bigger foremost sensor, a greater ultrawide, and fewer compromises on the bottom mannequin would put Pixels again in competition.
