The Pixel 11 Pro's camera flash is a 'LoLight' thanks to HiLight

Google’s new Pixel 11 Pro series introduces HiLight, a small array of ambient LEDs around the camera flash that give you some bits of information without requiring you to turn over or unlock your phone. Google ended up severely limiting HiLight’s functionality, and users had to resort to apps like HiLight Studio to unlock the LED’s full potential. As it turns out, Google gimped HiLight in more ways than one, with the LED flash itself also downgraded compared to the Pixel 10 series.

Reddit user pcman2000 voiced their frustration with the Pixel 11 Pro’s camera flash, calling it “really weak” and the weakest among all the phones they tested, ranking it below the Pixel 9 Pro and even the iPhone 17e.

Multiple Reddit users corroborated this with their anecdotes, commenting that the Pixel 11 Pro series’ flash is significantly weaker, even when the flashlight brightness is set to its maximum. Users have been frustrated by this regression, as not only is HiLight severely restricted in functionality, but it also compromises the daily utility of the camera flash, such as when moving through dark rooms or walking dogs at night, with no reasonable upside.

To see if the complaints hold up, the Android Authority team put several Pixel 11 Pro units from different regions to the test, with intriguing and somewhat mixed results.

In preliminary testing using an ambient light sensor, my colleague Adamya Sharma’s Pixel 11 Pro XL registered around 89 lux in torch mode, lagging behind the Pixel 10 Pro XL (123 lux) and falling substantially short of the iPhone 16 Pro (490 lux).

When capturing camera samples with flash in a dark room, the Pixel 11 Pro XL spread light more broadly across the background wall but left the foreground subject noticeably darker than the direct beam of the Pixel 10 Pro XL.

That said, real-world perception varies across our team. While some team members immediately noticed a weaker throw when peering under desks or across dark rooms, others found the output roughly on par with previous Pixels, albeit with a warmer, more diffused color temperature rather than a concentrated hotspot.

When stacked against devices like recent Samsung’s Galaxy Fold series or iPhones, however, the difference in peak brightness becomes much more pronounced. People used to stronger flashlights will notice a larger delta here than compared to previous Pixels.

The takeaway from our testing is that the Pixel 11 Pro’s flash is weaker than its predecessor, but it’s still fairly usable as a torch and for low-light images. If you’re expecting a piercing torch beam, you will find it a step backward.

The likely culprit appears to be the physical diffuser built into the camera visor for HiLight, which appears to soften the beam rather than letting it focus forward, relatively speaking. Reddit user pcman2000 shared images of the flash module of the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro under a microscope, and you can see the difference:

We have reached out to Google for comment and will update this article when we receive a response.