A countdown clock to Pixel 11 pre-orders has popped up on both the Google Store and Best Buy, giving us an indication that Google may let us buy the phones before they’ve even held an event to show them off.
That may sound confusing and odd, but they sort of did the same thing last year. For the Pixel 10 series, Google announced almost everything at 9AM Pacific and then held its Made by Google event at 10AM Pacific. They basically gave us a full hour to share all of the news with you about the series before then running an event filled with celebrities that was hosted by Jimmy Fallon.
For the Pixel 11 launch, it sort of looks like they are doing the same thing, only with a bigger gap between announcement (with pre-orders) and the event itself.
A countdown has popped up in a couple of places that finishes on August 12 at 7AM Pacific. Google will, presumably, let you pre-order everything at that time. However, the Made by Google event doesn’t happen until 3PM Pacific. Rather than a 1-hour break between announcements and event, Google sure seems like they will show off the devices, take a big break, and then host some sort of Made by Google evening event to celebrate.
The good news is that you may get to wake up and start your day on August 12 by ordering your new Pixel 11 phone. You’ll then get to enjoy that feeling before deciding if you want to tune into whatever it is that Google has planned for later that day. After seeing last year’s Fallonfest, it might not be worth reserving space on your calendar for.
Best Buy’s pre-order countdown can be found here.
