Pixel 11 price hikes look confirmed, as Google exec warns Pixel 10a could be next

With Samsung Unpacked now officially behind us, we are staring straight ahead at the Made By Google event coming up on August 12 where we expect to meet the new Pixel 11 series. These phones have already leaked six ways from Sunday, and that’s included an early look at pricing. If you haven’t been happy about the idea of the most affordable phone starting at $899 instead of the $799 we saw with Pixel 10 devices, we’ve got bad news from you.

Shakil Barkat is Google’s Vice President of Devices and Services, and 9to5Google recently spoke with him about Pixel hardware, including what we should expect in terms of pricing. While Barkat isn’t sharing any specific figures, he confirms that Google’s been struggling to absorb recent spikes in memory prices, and warns that this simply isn’t a situation that’s going to last.

Ultimately, “adjustments” are coming to Pixel pricing, and “will be rolled out dynamically to match supply realities.” And that’s going to affect Pixel 11 phones.

More than that, Barkat also gives us a heads-up that “in-market Pixel phones” will eventually see an impact, as well, hinting that the Pixel 10a’s $499 base price may not last for much longer.

While that’s obviously going to sting, Barkat is also clear that Google’s not about to abandon its approach to incentivizing device purchases through trade-ins, promos, and bundle deals, offering shoppers at least something to make them feel like they’re getting a good value.

The other silver lining here is that Google’s apparently working hard to try and lessen the impact of RAM price fluctuations, by just making Android much more memory efficient. That’s certainly going to be a lot easier said than done, but anything Google can do to stretch our now very-expensive RAM even further can only hope to improve the Android experience for everyone.

Are you thinking twice about getting a new Pixel this year in the light of this pricing situation? Maybe try and catch a deal on an old-stock Pixel 10 instead, or wait for a sale in a few months? Share your strategy down in the comments.