There is fresh movement around Pixel 11a could get the one big hardware change you were hoping for, and the story is worth a closer look.
We pulled together what is known so far and what it could mean for the people following it.
Google will unveil its latest Pixel devices at a launch event set to take place on August 12. Google hasn’t officially shown off too much at this point, but we did get to see the Pixel 11 in a new gold color, and we also got a sneak preview of a new feature being called Pixel Glow.

And while we can’t wait to see what Google has to show off next month, we’re already getting some news about Google’s next affordable phone, the Pixel 11a. Mystic Leaks shared on Telegram pretty much every detail about the upcoming phone that you’d need to know (via 9to5Google). While there are some changes, it doesn’t look like Google is deviating too much from its usual formula.
For now, it looks like the Pixel 11a will arrive in four different colors, and will feature a Google Tensor G6 chip and 8GB of RAM. No details on storage, but we can’t imagine Google making changes from the previous model, so we’ll assume there will be a 128GB and 256GB model.
The phone will also run the Google Titan M3 chip, which will handle all the security elements for the phone. As reported earlier, the Pixel 11a will pack MediaTek’s M90 modem, which finally has Google moving away from Samsung’s problematic modem hardware that it’s relied on for previous models.
The Pixel 11a will feature a 6.3-inch AMOLED screen with a 60-120Hz variable refresh rate that will peak at 3,350 nits. The battery will actually be quite a bit smaller when compared to the Pixel 10a, with the new model reportedly coming in at 4,870mAh. This doesn’t automatically mean that battery life is going to be shorter on the Pixel 11a.
With the new Tensor and Titan chips being more efficient, the phone could run just the same or even longer than the previous model. Perhaps the biggest news from this report is that the Pixel 11a will feature a larger front-facing camera. No details yet, so we’ll just have to hold tight to find out.
Mystic Leaks also shared news that the Face Unlock feature on the Pixel 11 will be better than previous models, offering faster reaction times, improvements in low-light conditions, and better security.
As someone who uses Face Unlock all the time on their Pixel phone, that’s welcome news. And in one final bit, it looks like we have the codename for the Pixel 12a, coming in as “marmoset.”
With that in mind, folks that love to dig through code will now be able to start looking for strings attached to the new device. But before any of that, we still have the Google Pixel event set to take place on August 12. Google’s spent years refining its hardware and software, so it will be interesting to see whether it can make things feel new again with the Pixel 11.