Google wants $1,099 for the Pixel 11 Pro — here's how I paid only $399

There’s a lot to talk about with Google’s Pixel 11 series, but something that keeps coming up is how expensive the phones are. As we’ve seen from virtually every tech company this year, each Pixel 11 model is more expensive than its predecessor.

The starting price of every Pixel 11 phone is $100 higher than its Pixel 10 counterpart, and the Pixel 11 Pro and 11 Pro XL also have less RAM than before. It’s a crummy situation all around, and I wouldn’t blame you if hearing this has put you off from buying a Pixel 11 entirely.

However, as annoying as the new prices are, that doesn’t mean the Pixel 11 can’t still be a great deal. With very little work on my part, I managed to buy a Pixel 11 Pro for just $399, down from the $1,099 MSRP — a whopping $700 discount.

How did I do it, and how can you follow my lead? Here’s how I pulled it off.

How to take advantage of Google’s (many) Pixel 11 promos

There are four main promos that led to me getting such a good deal on my Pixel 11 Pro, the first of which involved taking advantage of the Google Store’s trade-in program. Google is offering increased trade-in values when you buy any of its new phones — letting you get up to $500 off the base Pixel 11, up to $600 off the Pixel 11 Pro/11 Pro XL, and up to $1,000 off the Pixel 11 Pro Fold. That’s an instant discount you get at the time of purchase.

The Pixel 11 Pro I bought technically isn’t mine; it’s for my partner who’s become absolutely fed up with their iPhone 17. They used that for the trade-in promo, and for a base model iPhone 17 with 256GB of storage, we got an instant $550 discount. Not too shabby to kick things off.

The next deal came from a $150 coupon code that Google sent out to some people ahead of the Pixel 11’s announcement. I got an email from the Google Store on August 11 with my code, so it’s worth checking your inbox to see if you received one as well. If not, you might also be able to snag a $150 code from the Play Store, depending on your Play Points status.

I actually used a $150 coupon code from my friend Ben Schoon from 9to5Google (thank you again, Ben) before I realized Google had sent me one as well. If you want $150 off your Pixel 11, use OX7NW9UC7YEVVRPGB32M1MS at checkout. You’re welcome ☺️.

Between the $550 trade-in credit and the $150 discount — which can be stacked — that brings us to $700. Between those two deals, the Pixel 11 Pro drops from $1,099 to $399 just like that.

But wait, I mentioned four promos above, and I’ve only talked about two of them, yet we’re already at the $399 price. While those two deals brought the Pixel 11 Pro down to $399, there are actually two other promotions that effectively brought my final price down to only $105 pre-tax.

Another Google Store promo lets you get either a discount on a Pixel Watch 5 or Google Store credit for a future purchase. I chose the Google Store credit, and with either the Pixel 11 Pro or 11 Pro XL, that credit comes out to $200. On top of that, since I’m a Google One member, I also got 10% back in Google Store credit on my purchase — which came out to an additional $94.38.

Add those two things together, and I now have $294.38 in Google Store credits sitting in my account. If we take that $399 purchase price and subtract the $294.38, I’m effectively looking at just $104.62 out of pocket for a new Pixel 11 Pro. Even after factoring in $56.94 in tax (minus $2.48 from old Google Store credits I had), I’m still effectively paying just $159.08. If you ask me, that’s pretty damn good.

Price increases are bad, but there are ways around them

I write this not to defend Google’s price increases this year. Being asked to pay more for minimal year-over-year upgrades will always be frustrating — especially when you’re getting less RAM than before.

However, whether it be Google, Samsung, or anyone else, most companies make it very easy to buy a new phone without paying full price. Will some of those deals require you to trade in an old phone to get the biggest discount? A lot of the time, yes. Are store credits or gift cards to specific online retailers not as valuable as an instant discount? You could absolutely argue that.

Is it a perfect system? No. But if you know how to work and fanagle it, you can end up getting a new flagship Android phone for a fraction of the retail price. Even with some caveats, I think that’s pretty great.

Many of the Pixel 11 promos mentioned above expire at the end of the day on August 27, so if you want to fully replicate my Pixel 11 deal combo, you’ll need to act fairly quickly. And who knows? Maybe you’ll end up with a $399 Pixel 11 Pro of your very own.