Best Buy just raised the Pixel 11 by $200 — and two more flagships went up with it
By Merry
At a glance
- The Pixel 11, the phone that anchored the sub-$700 Android pick a week ago, is $200 dearer.
- The Pixel 11 Pro XL is $350 dearer.
Products in this article: Pixel 11 - Watch Ultra 3 - Galaxy S26
Three flagship prices went up at Best Buy in a single day, and none of them went up by a little. The Pixel 11, the phone that anchored the sub-$700 Android pick a week ago, is $200 dearer. The Pixel 11 Pro XL is $350 dearer. The Watch Ultra 3, which we called a $549 Doorbuster three days ago, is $100 dearer. A fourth rise, quieter, landed at Amazon. This is what changed, why it probably happened, and what to do if you were about to buy any of them. Every price below is from our own checks today, 9 November 2026, and the previous prices are from our own daily checks over 5–8 November.
| Product | Was | Now | Change | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Pixel 11 | $699.00 | $899.00 | +$200.00 | Best Buy |
| Google Pixel 11 Pro XL | $949.00 | $1,299.00 | +$350.00 | Best Buy |
| Apple Watch Ultra 3 | $549.00 | $649.00 | +$100.00 | Best Buy |
| Apple MacBook Air (M5) | $1,099.00 | $1,139.00 | +$40.00 | Amazon.com |
Pixel 11: the $200 rise that changes the recommendation
At $699 the Pixel 11 was the easy default Android buy — Google’s software, seven years of updates, under $700. At $899 it sits in a different fight. The Galaxy S26 is $749.00 at Walmart, now $150 less than the Pixel 11. The iPhone 17 Pro is $1,099.99 at Best Buy, now only $200 more than the Pixel 11 instead of $400. And the Pixel 9a is $339.00 at Amazon for the buyer who wants Google’s software at roughly a third of the price. Our call: if you were buying the Pixel 11 this week, wait — the $699 price was live yesterday, and promotional pricing at this level tends to return — or buy the S26 today. Do not pay $899 for a phone that was $699 yesterday.
Pixel 11 Pro XL: $350 more, and the maths stops working
The Pro XL’s case at $949 was a big-screen Pixel under $1,000. At $1,299 it competes with Apple’s Pro phones, and it loses that comparison on price: the iPhone 18 Pro is $1,199.99 at Best Buy, $99.01 less than the Pro XL now costs. It is also $400 more than the base Pixel 11 — the gap between the two Pixels has grown from $250 to $400 in a day. Our call: wait. A $350 jump in a day is promotional pricing ending, not a new list price, and the $949 price was live for days. There is no reason to buy the Pro XL at $1,299 this week.
Watch Ultra 3: the Doorbuster is over
The Doorbuster that made our 6 November review’s case is gone. Best Buy now shows the Ultra 3 as a Holiday Deal, $150 off the $799 list — which still means $649, up $100 from the $549 Doorbuster price. At $649 the watch’s case is thinner: the Garmin Venu 4 is $549.99 at Best Buy, $99.01 less, with up to 12 days of battery against the Ultra 3’s up to 42 hours. For iPhone owners the Ultra 3 still has the deeper integration, and it is still the biggest and toughest Apple Watch. For everyone else, the Venu 4 is now the cheaper watch by a real margin. Our call: iPhone owners wait for the next Ultra 3 drop; Android owners buy the Venu 4 now. (We are updating our 6 November Ultra 3 review to the $649 price today.)
MacBook Air M5: the quiet $40
The smallest rise of the four, and the least reason to change plans. The MacBook Air (M5) is $1,139.00 at Amazon, up from $1,099.00, for the 16GB/512GB Midnight model against a $1,299.00 list — still $160 under list. The MacBook Pro 14-inch (M5) holds at $2,349.00. Forty dollars does not change the decision: if you need the laptop now, buy it; if you can wait, watch for the $1,099 price to return. This one is noise; the three Best Buy rises are the story.
What didn’t move
The deals from last week are intact, and if your purchase is on this list, nothing about today changes it: the Canon EOS R50 V is $569.99 at Best Buy; the Galaxy Buds4 Pro is $219.99 at Amazon.com; the Galaxy A26 is $149.88 at Amazon.com; the Galaxy S25 Edge is $639.95 at Walmart; the iPhone 17 Pro is $1,099.99 at Best Buy. All checked today, 9 November 2026.
Our call
Do not chase a rise. All four increases look like promotional pricing ending — a Doorbuster over, a launch window closing — rather than new list prices, and the same prices were lower days ago. The move is to wait, or to switch to the alternative that is cheaper today: the S26 over the Pixel 11, the Venu 4 over the Ultra 3, the iPhone 18 Pro over the Pro XL. We will re-check all four tomorrow and update this post if any of them move again.
Sources
- Best Buy — Google Pixel 11, Google Pixel 11 Pro XL, Apple Watch Ultra 3 listings, checked 9 November 2026: Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro XL, Watch Ultra 3
- Amazon.com — Apple MacBook Air (M5), 16GB/512GB Midnight, ASIN B0GR1JTFP8, checked 9 November 2026: amazon.com/dp/B0GR1JTFP8
- Walmart — Samsung Galaxy S26, $749.00, checked 9 November 2026
- Best Buy — Garmin Venu 4, $549.99, checked 9 November 2026
- Previous prices are from CompareIdea’s own daily price checks, 5–8 November 2026.
Last updated: 9 November 2026