Google Pixel 11 Price Increase: Why the 128GB Model Matters
A new leak suggests the cheapest Pixel 11 in Europe will cost €100 more than last year's equivalent, and the Google Pixel 11 price increase story may have less to do with a new MSRP than with the quiet removal of the 128GB model. A report from Dealabs, covered Tuesday by both Android Authority and 9to5Google, claims Google is dropping the 128GB base storage tier entirely across the Pixel 11 lineup, with all models starting at 256GB. The result: the standard Pixel 11 opens at €999, and the Pro Fold reaches €1,999.
None of this is confirmed. Google has not officially acknowledged pricing or storage configurations for the Pixel 11 family, and both outlets are drawing from the same Dealabs source. The numbers below are EU and UK figures only. US pricing does not appear in the leak.
What this piece covers: what the leaked prices actually mean, which models are facing a genuine hike versus losing their cheapest option, and why that distinction matters for anyone weighing a purchase this fall.
Google Pixel 11 EU pricing leak: what the numbers actually show
The headline figures from the Dealabs report, as covered Tuesday by 9to5Google: €999 for the standard Pixel 11, €1,199 for the Pro, €1,399 for the Pro XL, and €1,999 for the Pro Fold. All at 256GB base storage, with 512GB and 1TB tiers available on applicable models.
The year-over-year comparison is where the story gets precise. The Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro started at €899 and €1,099 respectively, but those were 128GB models, 9to5Google notes. The 256GB Pixel 10 variants cost roughly €100 more. So for the standard Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro, buyers are not paying a higher price for equivalent storage. They are being handed the old 256GB price point as the new floor, with the 128GB option removed.
The Pro XL and Pro Fold work differently. Both appear to be receiving direct €100 increases on their base 256GB configurations, the same tier that existed before, just more expensive. 9to5Google describes these plainly as "normal €100 price hikes." The Fold's rumored €1,999 base is the starkest number in the leak: a straightforward price increase on an already-premium device, not a storage-tier reframe.
Samsung used a nearly identical playbook with the Galaxy S26 earlier this year, dropping the 128GB base variant so that the 256GB price became the new entry point, raising what buyers pay at launch without any listed MSRP changing, as Gadget Hacks reported in April. The Pixel 11 standard and Pro appear to follow that same template.
Whichever mechanism applies, the outcome is the same: the cheapest way into the Pixel 11 lineup in Europe costs more than it did a year ago, and the sub-€1,000 Pixel is gone.
Who actually pays more, and by how much
The distinction between a storage shuffle and a genuine price hike is not just semantics. It determines who is actually worse off.
Buyers who typically chose the 128GB Pixel to keep costs down are the most affected. That entry point has been eliminated. According to the leaked data covered by Android Authority on Tuesday, there is no longer a way into the Pixel lineup in Europe for under €999. For these buyers, the effective cost increase is €100, regardless of how Google frames the storage change.
Buyers who already chose 256GB in a previous generation face a different situation. On a like-for-like basis, same storage and equivalent model tier, the Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro may land near the same price they paid before. That is the most favorable reading of the leak, and likely how the company will frame the pricing if announced as reported.
Pro XL and Pro Fold buyers have less of a cushion. Those models carry direct increases on equivalent configurations. The Fold at €1,999 is simply more expensive than the prior-generation equivalent, regardless of storage-tier framing, per Android Authority.
One unresolved variable complicates the picture further. An earlier leak cited by 9to5Google suggested some Pixel 11 configurations might ship with reduced RAM. The current Dealabs report does not address it. If that holds up, certain buyers could be paying more while getting less memory. More storage plus less RAM at a higher price is a different proposition than simply moving buyers up a storage tier, and it would shift what buyers are actually getting for the money considerably. That question will not be answered until Google's announcement.
The market backdrop: rising memory costs across the industry
There is a broader context here, though Google has not confirmed that component costs are directly behind any Pixel 11 pricing decisions.
Mobile DRAM costs rose roughly 50% quarter-on-quarter in 2026, while NAND flash storage surged more than 90% over the same period, per Counterpoint Research's Memory Price Tracker cited by Gadget Hacks in April. For a flagship configured with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, bill-of-materials costs climbed $100 to $150 in Q2 alone, with RAM and storage together accounting for more than 40 cents of every manufacturing dollar. Counterpoint estimated those pressures would translate to $150 to $200 in higher retail prices per flagship device.
A related shift: memory has now surpassed the processor as the dominant cost component in high-end phones. In Q1 2026, the combined unit cost of 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB UFS storage crossed $280 per device, exceeding the cost of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, according to data cited by Gadget Hacks in April. That chip was already considered expensive flagship silicon.
H2 2026 launches are expected to bear the worst of this pressure. Supply contracts for phones launching later in the year were signed earlier, when memory prices had already spiked, and Isaiah Research data via Gadget Hacks indicated that Android vendors expected Q3 component pressure to exceed Q2. The Pixel 11's rumored August launch sits in that window.
Whether that cost environment explains Google's specific decisions is an open question. But it is the water every flagship Android maker is swimming in right now.
What to watch when Google announces in August
The Pixel 11 announcement is rumored for around August 11, with preorders opening the same day and retail availability on August 20, per Android Authority. Three things will determine whether the leaked prices hold and whether the value case makes sense.
First: US pricing. The Dealabs leak covers EU and UK only. Whether Google holds US prices flat, mirrors the European increase, or uses trade-in offers to offset the higher entry point remains unknown. The 128GB question matters just as much in the US. If that tier disappears globally, the cheapest Pixel gets more expensive everywhere.
Second: RAM configurations. If the earlier leak about reduced memory in certain trims is accurate, the storage-upgrade framing falls apart. Buyers deserve a direct comparison against last year's 256GB pricing, not against the 128GB floor.
Third: how Google positions the Pixel 11 against its predecessor in its own announcement. If the company compares the new €999 price to last year's €899 128GB model without noting that a 256GB Pixel 10 already cost €999, that framing is worth checking against last year's actual 256GB pricing. On the standard and Pro models, the storage-adjusted numbers are more favorable to buyers. But only if the right baseline is used.
The Pixel 11 price story is real, but it is uneven. For the standard model and Pro, the headline €100 jump is largely a function of removing the 128GB tier. Buyers who would have chosen that option are paying more; buyers who already opted for 256GB may see little change on a like-for-like basis. For the Pro XL and Pro Fold, it is a direct increase on comparable hardware, per both Android Authority and 9to5Google.
Until the announcement: European buyers should expect to pay at least €999 for any Pixel 11. Buyers elsewhere should watch whether the 128GB tier survives in their market. That single data point, more than any listed MSRP, is what determines how expensive the new Pixel actually becomes.
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