Should you buy a new phone now, or wait for the Pixel 11? [Video]

In just over a week, there will be a new Google phone, but with the industry in an odd place, should you wait for the Pixel 11 or just get something else? Find out here.

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The precarious state of the market

In years gone by, it has been very easy to recommend that people wait for the next new shiny thing to see just what it brings to the table and what it’ll cost. Due to market forces, driven wholly by AI development and datacenter pricing models, many tech products have actually seen price increases over the past year or so.

Game consoles, PCs, smartphones, and much more are at the mercy of memory shortages and storage price hikes. The problem is that you’re getting less for your hard-earned dollar. To be clear, to help save costs, most new phones are coming with less RAM than last year, or the maximum allowance is lower, or they will cost a lot more to purchase.

This puts us in a very odd position that affects most mainstream tech products. There are improvements, but the core experience will likely be diminished by virtue of these key components, causing price increases.

Luckily, we’re still getting discounts. However, those are much more modest than in years gone by. You’re likely not going to get a sub-$700 Galaxy S26 Ultra any time soon, but with trade-ins, you can get Samsung’s best phone at a palatable price point.

The Pixel 10 is a solid option and will remain a solid option for the “average” person. Because of this, it might even be a better buy for many people than the Pixel 11 when it does get unveiled very shortly. It’s worth noting that this applies to almost every new smartphone set for release or already released during this RAM price-fluctuation era. You might want to look back before looking forward.

Pixel 11 expectations

You know the deal by now. The Pixel 11 lineup is coming in those familiar flavors. Base model, two Pro phones of various sizes, and the Pixel 11 Pro Fold.

Yes, the base model still has a telephoto lens. The Pro phones will have basically everything better, and the Pro Fold is a boxy foldable for the businessman or true power user – but with a lesser camera system.

One upside that doesn’t quite account for the price increase is the bump to 256GB across the entire lineup. This is one of the few key reasons that it might be worth the wait for the Pixel 11, but it makes us wonder why it took Google so long to implement, even though other brands ditched 128GB base models long ago. It doesn’t justify a price increase, nor does it detract from the downgrade to 12GB RAM on the Pixel 11 Pro, Pro XL, and Pro Fold. This is down from 16GB RAM.

We’re not sure how this will affect some of the supposed local AI processing that has always been a reason for this specific figure being used on the previous generation. Maybe more cloud processing is being used to account for the shortfall.

Just where does Tensor G6 fall in the chipset rankings? It’s always the toughest and touchiest subject, and at least with other smartphones, you are at the very least guaranteed a top-of-the-line processor. It’s getting harder and harder for Google to hide this behind AI if cloud processing is required to handle the bulk of phone functionality.

Tensor G6 will be built on TSMC’s 2nm fabrication process, so maybe we’ll get some efficiency gains. It’ll be the first smartphone to ship with a chip using this process, which is quite impressive. A potentially downgraded GPU isn’t a good look, but at least there is a new modem, security chip, plus a little more. The main thing is that the next-generation Tensor chipset isn’t going to set the industry alight.

This will be a major point of contention as the pre-release information points to a modest performance uplift. If it still ranks low in the performance charts, it’s very tough to recommend to all but the most ardent Pixel fan.

What about the Pixel 10 and 10a?

Before we started to see major price increases basically everywhere, there had already been a number of solid discounts on the current generation.

The Pixel 10 is hovering around the $500 level and is almost constantly on sale, while the Pixel 10a is just a retread of the Pixel 9a, so get that device instead for under $350 when on sale and get a great package.

Google confirmed that price increases will affect “in-market Pixel phones” in the coming months, so if there’s a deal to be had, go ahead and get a Pixel 10 or Pixel 10a when you see something within your budget. As far as we can tell, any new features will likely be AI-related. There’s no word on extra hardware, and Android 17 QPR1 is due very soon, which will arguably feel and run the same on any of the current generation.

Throw in another 6 years of updates, and it’s hard to really argue against anyone buying the late-2025 lineup.

Should you buy now or wait for the Pixel 11?

Given that we have a fair amount of details on what the Pixel 11 series is going to bring to the table on August 12 and how there is even less of a major bump than ever before, it’s hard to recommend that you hold out and wait until the Pixel 11 hits store shelves.

For the first time in a long time, you might get more value from the previous generation of phones from all manufacturers. Many of the newest smartphones are coming with less RAM than their predecessors. There’s also another price jump. So that makes back-to-back price increases for the Pixel lineup this year.

With the phone unlikely to be as powerful as other devices out there right now, it is going to be tough to convince people to upgrade unless there is a real cost-saving trade-in program or major incentives to help facilitate it. Barely any OEMs are trying to offer discounts or compete with each other right now, either.

Ordinarily, I would say that I don’t think it hurts to wait a few weeks to see just what happens, but for the first time in a while, if you need or want a new phone, just get the best deal you see right now. There is no crystal ball, no precedent for the way that tech prices are increasing even on older hardware, so it’s wise to make the most sensible decision for your own situation sooner rather than later.