The Pixel Promise is Also the Pixel Problem ⭐

Say what you will about Google, but it's always delivered on its promise of a helpful phone with Pixel. And with 10 generations of this device family--and 7 generations of Nexus devices before that--it's no surprise that Pixel has matured greatly, as have the competition and smartphones in general.

Tied to this, people aren't upgrading to new phones--and to other new devices--as frequently as they did in the past. This, too, is no surprise. Year-over-year phone upgrades haven't been notable in over a decade, and devices are always getting more expensive.

This is normal. And yet tech reviewers routinely complain that some new phone upgrade--the recently released Pixel 11 series phones being a great example--are "boring," "iterative," or "minor"--words that betray their own shortcomings more than those of the hardware they're not spending enough time evaluating.

The defense of this behavior is as simply stated as it is debunked: Most of these reviewers write for enthusiast publications like blogs and YouTube channels, and so they will argue that their audience is composed of people who are enthusiasts and thus more likely to upgrade than the general populace.

That isn't the stupidest thing I have ever heard. But it's in the top ten. Also, it's completely wrong.

The people who are paying for year-over-year upgrades in 2026 don't need to read a review in an enthusiast tech blog to help them make their decision. They may read such a thing so they can learn more about whatever specifications and new features. But they don't need you or your review. Most people who are considering buying a new phone right now, no matter the model, are doing so because they have to. These are the people who will search Google for reviews, come across your half-assed evaluation of a product you've only used, and most likely alongside other devices, for a single-digit number of days. That's the audience for your review. So maybe stop mailing it in.

What's sad here is that the same tech reviewers who aren't doing their damn job--by which I mean actually providing value--are in a unique position to be truly useful to anyone wanting to buy a new phone. In Pixel terms, these are the people--like me, in this case--who have owned and used almost every single Pixel model that Google ever made. They could offer a unique perspective about the evolution of this product line and take an educated stance on exactly who will best appreciate whatever Pixel 11 series phone upgrade. In this case, perhaps those with a Pixel 8 or older will see the most value from this upgrade, and here's a roundup of all the changes that justify that position.

But you don't really see that. Invariably, these reviews are just complaints. There is a rote series of benchmark results that we already know Pixel will lose because, better or worse, that's not Google's focus. The look and feel changes subtly or not at all, but we get new colors, like lipstick on a pig. There are software...