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The Google Pixel 11 series may not look that different from last year’s Pixel 10 lineup, but Google has clearly worked on some major under-the-hood upgrades this year. You get a more efficient Tensor G6 chipset, which is great, but perhaps the bigger change is the modem.
Google has ditched Samsung’s Exynos modem in favor of a new MediaTek modem on the Pixel 11 phones. We recently compared the Pixel 11 Pro’s modem with last year’s Pixel 10 Pro and saw clear improvements in download speeds, signal reception, and battery efficiency.
But how does the Pixel 11 series’ new modem compare to what you get on other top-tier Android flagships? To find out, I put the Pixel 11 Pro against the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra to see how the new MediaTek modem fares against one of the best Android phones.
Before we get into the results, it’s worth noting that I tested both the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and the Google Pixel 11 Pro under as similar conditions as possible. I made sure both devices were running the latest available software and started the tests with both phones at close to 100% battery. I also used the same SIM card on both phones to keep things as fair as possible.
The S26 Ultra and Pixel 11 Pro were disconnected from Wi-Fi and relied entirely on mobile data throughout the test. To compare the two modems, I ran three different tests covering signal strength, cellular speeds, and battery consumption while streaming video.
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