Google’s Pixel 11 didn’t start out with the warmest welcome. Higher prices, less RAM, a worse Google AI Pro freebie and phones that look largely the same as the Pixel 10—a stark contrast to Samsung’s experimental new foldable—didn’t exactly inspire fans.
But you’d be wrong to write Google off because the company does one thing well when it comes to selling hardware: running aggressive promotions that paper over concerns.
The company’s new trade-in guarantee and double discount codes are a clear example of that, depending on where you live.
Google Is Paying Hundreds For Your Old Phone When Buying The Pixel 11
In the U.K. Google Store, Google is guaranteeing a minimum trade-in value of £400 ($545) for any eligible phone, regardless of age. That means even a Pixel 6 Pro, which is currently worth around £130 ($177) on eBay, fetches £480 ($654 on the Google Store right now.
If you want to take it further, the original Google Pixel and its successor the Pixel 2 will net £430 ($586) right now. It would be worth buying a used and working Android phone for peanuts and trading it in to get this discount.
If you buy the original Pixel there’s also a small benefit of getting unlimited free Google Photos uploads that don’t count towards your cloud storage usage. Read more about that here.
Google is also accepting a wide range of brands. So defunct devices from LG, Huawei, Sony and HTC are all welcome, alongside bigger brands like Samsung, Apple and Motorola. Google is essentially slashing £400-plus off the Pixel 11. You just need to find a phone to trade in to trigger it.
The U.S. deal, however, is less generous in two ways. Google is offering up to $500 back on eligible trade-ins in the U.S., but that’s a maximum rather than a guaranteed minimum. Older or lower-value phones will obviously get less.
A Pixel 6 Pro fetches $350 in the U.S., which converts to £256 at current rates, well below the U.K.’s guaranteed £400 minimum. Or the OG Pixel is only valued at $100 in the US, compared to the UK store’s £430 ($553).
Also, the U.S. store won’t accept devices from Alcatel, Huawei, Oppo, Sony, HTC or LG. The American promotion also ends earlier, on August 27th, while the U.K. offer runs until September 1st, giving British buyers five more days to hunt down the cheapest acceptable phone they can find to trade in.
Google Continues Its Random Discounts Game For The Pixel 11
Beyond the trade-in, Google has been quietly handing out additional discount codes to some users, which can be stacked with the trade-in credit.
Google sent email codes to users who signed up for Google Store marketing between July 15th and August 7th. The codes ranged from $100 to $250 depending on the user. The company has long emailed out random codes to Google users, but there’s little rhyme or reason to who gets them and how big the discount is.
There is, however, a new way to get some money off the Pixel 11. Google is giving out vouchers via a Play Store Points discount. The voucher can be found in Play Points > Perks and it varies by your points level, but the discount seems to range from $125 to $175.
Is The Pixel 11 Worth Buying With These Discounts?
I’m as confident Google will run another sale soon as I am that Christmas falls on December 25th.
The company is aiming to vacuum up more market share this year, and it has a strong record of almost monthly deep discounts, as I’ve repeatedly covered. So there’s no rush for Pixel buyers. Don’t be surprised if we see a major deal around the iPhone 18 launch as the company tries to steal some of Apple’s limelight.
But that trade-in deal may not come back around again any time soon and combined with the Play Points voucher, it is absolutely worth taking a serious look at. If you don’t decide to buy the Pixel 11 now, subscribe to my free newsletter to keep up to date with new deals.