My favorite Pixel 11 Pro feature is something no other Android phone can match

I’m a big fan of the Pixel 11 Pro. I’ve been using Google’s flagship Android phone for over a month now, and there’s so much about it that I love — be it the excellent cameras, gorgeous design, or clean software.

I talked about a lot of these things in my Pixel 11 Pro review, but there’s one feature I didn’t mention: Face Unlock. Since the Pixel 8 Pro launched nearly three years ago, every Google Pixel phone has launched with Google’s Face Unlock feature.

Starting with the Pixel 8 Pro (and base model Pixel 8) in 2023, Google equipped its Pixel handsets with two secure biometric unlock options: the in-screen fingerprint sensor and its updated Face Unlock.

Pretty much every Android phone today offers some form of face unlock, but the way it worked on the Pixel 8, and continues to do so on modern Pixels, is very different from the competition. Face unlock on Samsung and Motorola phones, for example, can only unlock the lock screen. But on Pixels, Face Unlock gets a security boost from Google’s Tensor chips, making it secure enough to unlock sensitive apps and authenticate mobile payments.

Google achieved this three years ago, and the fundamental tech really hasn’t changed since the Pixel 8 series. But even so, Face Unlock still puts a smile on my face every time I use it.

I don’t dislike fingerprint sensors, and the one on the Pixel 11 Pro is quite good. But having the choice between it and a fully-fledged face unlock system is just immensely convenient. When I’m already holding the Pixel 11 Pro, popping my thumb onto the fingerprint sensor is usually the quickest and most natural way to unlock the phone or access a banking app. But when the Pixel is lying on my office desk or kitchen table, just glancing at the phone to unlock it is the best.

Sometimes, I want a fingerprint sensor. Other times, I want face unlock. One isn’t necessarily 100% better than the other, but I prefer each one under different circumstances. Having the choice to decide which to use on the Pixel 11 Pro is something I appreciate every single day — and something I can’t get on any other major Android phone in the US.

It may sound silly, but Google’s Face Unlock really is one of the (many) reasons I gravitate towards Pixels over competing Android phones. It’s one of those quality-of-life features that’s so hard to live without once you’ve gotten used to it, and three years later, it remains just as magical as it did at launch.

You would think other Android brands would be eager to copy Google’s Face Unlock approach, especially three years after its launch. But here we are in September 2026, and Google is still the only Android brand in the US — and other parts of the world — offering the feature.

Why? For all the flak Google’s Tensor chipsets receive, Face Unlock on Pixel phones exists only because of Tensor. Rather than creating specialized facial recognition hardware (à la Face ID), Google’s Face Unlock uses a standard front-facing camera paired with machine learning models tuned to Google’s custom TPU in its Tensor chips. If brands like Samsung and Motorola wanted to offer something similar, they’d have to invest enormous amounts of time and money into getting their own models to work with the non-specialized Qualcomm and MediaTek chips they use.

Google’s Tensor chips may lose out in benchmark comparisons, but they’re the reason why features like Face Unlock are so good. And if you ask me, that trade-off is 100% worth it.