Google’s Pixel phones have long suffered from connectivity woes. Battery life drains fast. Devices overheat during calls. Signal drops in weak areas. Now, leaks point to a major shift. The Pixel 11, set for an August 2026 launch, will drop Samsung’s Exynos modems entirely. In their place: MediaTek’s M90 baseband. Android Police broke the news, citing supply-chain whispers and internal testing data.
Samsung’s modems powered Pixels from the 6 series onward. The Exynos 5123 debuted in 2021. Later came the Exynos 5400 for Pixels 9 and 10. Problems persisted. Radios latch onto shaky 5G signals, refusing to fall back to LTE. Power draw spikes. Heat builds. Thermal throttling kicks in. Users complain of batteries dying by midday. “The culprit behind Pixel’s signal and heat issues,” notes Android Police’s Ben Khalesi.
MediaTek enters the picture. Its M90 promises 12Gbps downlink speeds. It handles 6CC carrier aggregation. Rel-17 Paging Early Indication slashes idle power by 15%. UltraSave 4.0 cuts average consumption up to 18%. Satellite support for 3GPP IoT-NTN and NR-NTN rounds it out. Early tests show Google pairing it with the Tensor G6 chip, built on TSMC’s 2nm node. 9to5Google reported internal command-line screenshots confirming the M90’s baseband version “a900a.”
This isn’t Google’s first flirtation with MediaTek. Rumors swirled for the Pixel 10 in late 2024. 9to5Google covered it then. Samsung’s Exynos 5400i stuck around instead. Pixel 10 launched with familiar issues. Now, for Pixel 11, the switch sticks. GSMArena echoed the rumor in October 2025, warning to take it with salt after past misses.
Why now? Security plays a role. Samsung modems integrated tightly with Tensor chips. Vulnerabilities piled up. Google’s Project Zero disclosed internet-to-baseband exploits in 2023. A discrete MediaTek modem creates better isolation. Rumors tie this to a Titan M3 security chip, codenamed “Google Epic.” 9to5Google detailed the upgrade in February.
Costs could rise. TSMC 2nm fabrication. Flagship modem. Analysts peg a $100 price bump for Pixel 11. Design leaks show slimmer bezels, all-black camera bars. Tensor G6 rumors include a 7-core CPU. Up to 16GB RAM on Pro models. 50MP sensors across the board. But the modem fix steals the show. X users buzzed about it. @AndroidPolice posted: “Google is dropping Samsung modems for the Pixel 11, and it’s the only upgrade I actually care about.”
Pixel history underscores the stakes. Pre-Tensor Pixels used Qualcomm modems. Reliable. Efficient. Tensor’s custom silicon aimed higher—AI smarts over raw power. Samsung Foundry handled production. Modems tagged along. Five years of gripes followed. Forums fill with thermal paste fixes, signal tweaks. MediaTek could reset expectations.
Expectations mount. Pixel 11 Pro XL renders from Android Headlines, shared on X by @rockleaks, hint at 162.7 x 76.5 x 8.5mm dimensions. 6.8-inch display. 5500mAh battery. All paired with M90. Base model stays compact at 6.3 inches. Launch aligns with Google’s August cadence.
But skepticism lingers. Leaks flop. Pixel 10 dodged MediaTek. Supply chains shift slowly. Google stays mum. Still, multiple sources converge: Mystic Leaks on Telegram, Android Authority echoes. Android Authority linked it to Tensor G6 in recent reports.
Industry watchers see broader implications. Qualcomm dominates premium modems. Samsung falters here. MediaTek gains ground in flagships. Apple’s iPhones, Samsung flagships stick with others. Pixels could lead the charge. Battery life improves. Heat drops. Signals stabilize. Users might finally forget the complaints.
Google needs this win. Pixel sales grow, but hardware critiques linger. AI features dazzle—Video Boost, Call Screen. Connectivity drags. A modem swap fixes that core flaw. August 2026 can’t come soon enough.
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