Android 17 is officially better on Pixels older than the Pixel 11
This followed on from the rollout of Android 17 QPR1 – the first major quarterly update of the platform – in late September.
Jon Mundy / Foundry
That latter release, however, only came to older Pixel devices. The Google Pixel 11 Pro and its Pixel 11 brothers are still running on the initial release of Android 17.
It could well be argued, then, that the five-year-old Google Pixel 6 is running on more advanced software than the Google Pixel 11.
What’s in store for the Pixel 11
We’re (kind of) joking, of course. The Google Pixel 11 series launched with a bevvy of fresh features, and things such as Magic Capture remain exclusive to the 2026 models.
It’s not ideal, however, that the Pixel 11 series still doesn’t have access to the minor visual changes that accompanied the Android 17 QPR1 rollout.
As 9to5Google points out, this includes a blur effect for some of the menus, and a more flexible system media player that resizes when other apps are available.