Forget raw power, this is what I want from the Pixel 11's Tensor G6

Google’s move from Qualcomm processors to its own Tensor chips in the Pixel series has been a contentious one. Tensor G5 in the Pixel 10 series is a far stronger chip than its predecessors, but many users still bemoan the difference in performance compared to the latest Snapdragon. As we start to look ahead to next year, I, too, want to see an improvement made to the Pixel 11 and Tensor G6, but not the one most of you are thinking about.

It’s hard to love one of the Pixel’s best camera features

Taking photos on a Pixel is still one of the best parts of enjoying the phone. While the gap is smaller than it was when the original Pixel was released, I feel that Google has the best camera experience of any phone, so long as you’re taking photos. Video capture is where it gets a little tough. My Pixel 10 Pro does take solid video, but it still pales in comparison to an iPhone 17 Pro. That changes, however, when you use Video Boost.

Video Boost, which debuted in 2023 with the Pixel 8 Pro, sends the video you capture with your phone to Google’s servers, where AI analyzes the file and improves exposure, reduces graininess and noise, stabilizes camera shake, and adjusts color, dynamic range, and more. The results vary based on the conditions you took the video in; something recorded in bright natural light will need less help than something taken in the dark, but the resulting video almost always looks better and can even rival what you’d get from an iPhone. That all sounds good, so why wouldn’t you use it?

As I mentioned, Video Boost works by offloading the video to Google’s servers. If you’re on a cellular connection or slow Wi-Fi, that process takes time, and once the video has been uploaded, Google’s servers aren’t fast. Last week, I recorded a video of my cat with Video Boost switched on, and it took more than two hours before I got the notification to say it was ready. That wait is bad enough, but even worse, it feels like Google doesn’t want us to use Video Boost.

By default, Video Boost is turned off in the Pixel camera app. That’s not so bad, right? Surely it’s easy to turn on and forget about? Sadly, that’s not so. Turning Video Boost on is fairly simple. You open the camera, tap the settings button in the bottom left, and set Video Boost to on. The difficulty and annoyance come from the fact that it only stays on for that session in the camera app. Every time you close the camera app, the feature defaults to being switched off, unlike most other Pixel Camera settings that stick forever. So, the next time you want to record a video, you’ll need to remember to switch it on, and it isn’t possible to use Video Boost on something that’s already been recorded.

Obviously, I don’t know Google’s reasoning for making Video Boost so obtuse, but if I had to guess, I’d say it comes to money. AI features aren’t free; look at how much some Gemini features cost in Google Home. Processing a video for two hours on its servers won’t be cheap, and if Video Boost could be switched on by default, handling all of that data would cause problems. So, how could Google find a solution?

Tensor G6 should bring on-device Video Boost

It’s clear by now that Google isn’t interested in making the Pixel a gaming phone. Each generation of Pixel phone and Tensor chip is more focused on AI than the last, and I have no doubt that will be the case with Tensor G6 and the Pixel 11. If so, the improvement I want to see most is Video Boost being made available offline, with Tensor processing the file and making the needed improvements.

There’d need to be some limitations, of course. Moving the process onto the phone could use a lot of power, so it may be that the phone can only boost videos when charging or above 50% battery. It may also be necessary for certain features to remain cloud-dependent. The Pixel 10, for example, can’t record native 8K — the 8K toggle in the app sends a 4K file to Google’s servers to be upscaled to 8K by Video Boost — and that’s something that may be too much for a phone to handle.

Even with those limitations, making 1080P and 4K Video Boost something that happens on-device and allowing the feature to be switched on by default would make the Pixel’s best video feature less frustrating to use, and it’s one of the things I most want to see from next year’s Pixel 11.

Do you use Video Boost on your Pixel? Are there changes you’d like Google to make to the feature? Let us know in the comments.