Pixel 11 Pro has an upgraded telephoto sensor Google didn't announce — it focuses closer too

Full text

TL;DR

The Pixel 11 Pro comes with an upgraded telephoto camera sensor.

As demonstrated by a Reddit user, compared to the Pixel 10 Pro and 9 Pro, the Pixel 11 Pro’s telephoto camera can focus on closer subjects.

Google hasn’t responded to our request for comment.

The Pixel 11 Pro comes with quite a few low-key upgrades, including a new telephoto camera sensor. The new sensor is the same 48-megapixel resolution as the one used in the Pixel 10 Pro and 9 Pro, but the 11 Pro’s version is a little larger compared to the one used in the previous to generations. That should make for better low-light performance, but the upgraded telephoto hardware also brings another, smaller improvement: it can focus on closer subjects.

As shared by user pcman2000 on Reddit early this morning, the Pixel 11 Pro’s telephoto camera is apparently able to focus much closer to the phone than the telephoto in the Pixel 9 Pro. They shared an image showing their Pixel 11 Pro next to a 9 Pro, both with their camera apps in manual mode and their telephoto cameras’ focus sliders set to the minimum distance. The 11 Pro is sharply focused on its box situated a couple of feet away, while the 9 Pro’s image is very blurry.