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Redmi Note 17 Pro Max has camera features Google's $900 Pixel 11 still omits

$500 Redmi Note 17 Pro Max offers 50MP full-resolution photos and manual controls absent from the $900 Pixel 11, Android Authority reports.

AI News Feed · 2026-09-06 20:52

The publication said Google introduced the Pixel 11 series about a month ago and that the four models bring more capable processors, AI tricks, camera tools and a long software support window. It found, however, that the standard Pixel 11 is missing many camera capabilities found on the Pixel 11 Pro series. The Redmi Note 17 Pro Max, a phone from rival Xiaomi, underscored that gap.

Android Authority said the Redmi Note 17 Pro Max has a 10,000mAh battery, with Xiaomi promising three-day battery life. Its rear camera is otherwise modest at 50MP plus an 8MP sensor. The real surprises were in the camera app: a full-resolution 50MP photo option and a manual/pro mode that lets users adjust ISO, white balance, shutter speed and other settings before taking a shot.

The report said full-resolution capture on low-cost phones is often impractical, since cheaper devices have small camera sensors and weaker chipsets that can struggle with high-resolution multi-frame processing. A base Pixel, by contrast, uses more powerful silicon and a larger sensor, so hardware is not an excuse. Manual mode, it wrote, is likewise not technically difficult to provide.

Google's omission is not limited to the Pixel 11. According to Android Authority, full-resolution 50MP capture was absent from earlier standard Pixels dating back to the Pixel 8 in 2023, and the standard Pixel 8, Pixel 9, Pixel 10 and Pixel 11 all lack a manual mode. Google makes manual controls available only when a buyer upgrades to a Pro model. The publication said this looks like an artificial separation designed to push users toward a more expensive device. Xiaomi, meanwhile, offered similar controls on Redmi phones in the early 2020s, including the Redmi Note 11 series.

The article said it would still pick a Pixel 11 or Pixel 10a over the Redmi Note 17 Pro Max for overall camera experience, given Google's image processing and newer Pixel 11 features such as Camera Looks and Magic Capture. The Xiaomi phone's image quality did not seem strong for its price class, it added. Yet the phone still shows that Google is withholding what Android Authority now considers basic 2026 camera functions from buyers of its base flagship.