How close does the Pixel 11 Pro get to the iPhone 17 Pro? Does Google’s best of 2026 contend with Apple’s best of 2025? Find out here.

The iPhone 18 series is on the horizon, but with Google opting to go out in front of Apple and as the market leader in the “premium” segment, it’s always good to use it as a yardstick for where the Pixel should be for the upcoming year. Whether Android or iOS, a few things that are easy to distinguish, so let’s get into the details.

Table of contents

Hardware and design

In any other year, it would be someone pointing out that the iPhone hasn’t changed, but it’s the inverse or has been for a couple of years on the Pixel side of the fence. I like that Google has refined the design again.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and yes, that applies to the Pixel this year. The Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL take a well-received, standout design and make admittedly tiny changes. Nobody would have expected this just a few years ago. We had Pixels evolving on a yearly basis, while Apple is the company shaking up its key phone design.

Metal and glass versus glass and metal is the best way to describe the two designs. You’ve seen one before, and the other is genuinely a great take on what a modern iPhone should be. I do hate how much better the iPhone’s magnets are at the back of the phone. Pixelsnap is not quite as grippy; it’s better than last year, but could be a little stronger. With a violent shake, you might be able to dislodge your phone from a mount, but it would have to be very violent, put that that way.

The displays are where things deviate a little bit as the Pixel 11 Pro gets another panel bump, which elevates the maximum brightness up to 3,600 nits peak. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is still solid at 3,000 nits, but the display tuning is quite different. Apple’s display tuning favors muted, natural colors out of the box, while Google leans into rich colors and contrast. You can change this at almost any time, which is great.

On the iPhone, the hardware gimmicks are the Action button and Camera control buttons. I’d hasten to add that they are not “gimmicks” in the same way that HiLight is on the Pixel. Sure, the LED has some utility, but bringing back notification LEDs that only work in certain circumstances feels a little like a lack of new ideas.

Apple has a history in hardware, almost always at the top of its game. Google has closed the quality gap in the last few years. There’s not as much separating this duo as in years gone by.

Again with the AI

I was worried last year that Google might try to do the stupid thing of trying to replicate Liquid Glass. Instead, we’ve seen something weird happen. Gaussian blur and somewhat frosted glass are being put into more places with Android 17 and the upcoming Android 17 QPR1 – which will release in a few weeks.

With iOS 27, Apple is playing catch-up in a few more AI areas. There’s an attempt at something akin to Gemini Intelligence, which includes a new Siri overhaul. It’s worth noting that Apple enlisted the help of Google to bolster Siri by using Gemini models as the foundational layer. This helps drastically, but the “Agentic AI” is somewhat like certain Pixel features in that it doesn’t always work as intended.

Gemini Intelligence is coming first to Pixel 11 phones, and this is the first proper step in a realized experience that Apple is similarly trying to chase. Getting information at the point of contact with a friend or relative, surfacing that key information when it would help the most. It’s an ongoing process, and it improves drastically over Magic Cue, which is effectively rebranded here.

What is interesting is that Apple offers more controls for Siri than you’re given with Gemini. Pause controls, speaking rate, the ability to disable spoken responses entirely, credit where it’s due, this is a glaring omission on Pixel phones. This goes beyond the basic, as you have true accessibility options for the voice assistant, something which should definitely come to Gemini at some stage.

Siri is allowing continued conversations, which works similarly to Gemini Live, but I can’t deny that the ability to customize the voice is something that Android fans will definitely be jealous of. On iOS 27, Siri stops listening too early, so you have to keep jumping in or chatting to have any real flow. Gemini still handles this better and with more frequent model updates, plus the deep integration with Personal Intelligence has the edge for anyone using a Google account.

Camera

Fundamentally, the camera experience on the Pixel 11 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro is quite similar. With the introduction of Camera Looks, we have a replica of the Photographic Styles, which was always a great functionality to try to copy or at least mimic to a lesser degree.

Google is much more willing to put AI directly into the camera experience. Pro Res Zoom, Magic Camera, Video Boost, the tools are right there, and AI is a key component. On the iPhone, AI is kept at arm’s length, which many photographers and videographers will arguably prefer.

Camera tuning also still feels markedly different. The skin tone reproduction on Pixel 11 Pro is among the best out there. Real Tone has done wonders, while Apple’s warmer color palette is an acquired taste that many people swear by.

Google needs to walk a fine line, as hardware is still important in a camera system despite some sensor changes. It’s getting annoying to rely heavily on AI, as at that point, we’re getting further and further into the realms of image creation rather than photography. Sure, add neat AI-enhanced functions that help you take better photos, but don’t over-rely on those. Again, credit where it is due, like any Apple smartphone, the iPhone 17 Pro Max just does more with its camera hardware than the Pixel 11 Pro.

Is the Pixel 11 Pro a worthy opponent to the iPhone 17 Pro Max?

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Google is once again getting ahead of Apple in the release cycle, with the Pixel 11 Pro having precious time on store shelves before the iPhone 18 launches. It’ll be around a month before the next iPhone is available, but there isn’t much to write home about with the Pixel 11 series as a whole.

Apple isn’t moving the needle on software right now. While the Pixel 11 Pro isn’t enough of a visual change for people to instantly know that this is a newer device when compared to last year’s iPhone 17 Pro. You could ask people to spot the differences between the previous generation, and the visual changes to the iPhone might be enough for someone to understand that it’s a newer phone.

That might hurt the Pixel this year, and that is before we get into some of the internal changes and downgrades. A base model Pixel 11 Pro, when pitted against the base model iPhone 17 Pro, feels like a bad value product – and that is before we talk about the good components such as the software, AI functionality, and solid camera tricks.

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