Here’s a fun game: look at the leaked iQOO Z11 and try to guess which brand made it. If your first answer is Google, you’re not alone. According to Sportskeeda Tech, the confirmed design for the Indian market features a prominent horizontal camera bar across the back panel, and yes, it looks almost exactly like a Pixel 9 or Pixel 10. Not vaguely similar. Almost identical.
The camera bar layout is the kind of design choice that’s hard to call accidental. Google made that wide rear bar its signature look, and now iQOO is rolling up to India with something that could genuinely fool a casual glance. To be fair, the Vivo S2 and Vivo X300 FE also use a similar layout, and iQOO sits under the same Vivo parent company, so there’s a family connection here. But the Pixel comparison is what people are actually talking about online, with some fans flat-out calling it a cheap copy and others wondering why so many brands are chasing Google’s aesthetic all at once.
What makes this stranger is that iQOO isn’t going with this look everywhere. The Chinese and Malaysian versions of the Z11 have completely different designs. So this is a deliberate, market-specific choice for India. Whether that’s smart positioning or playing it risky with a design that invites this much scrutiny is a fair question.
Tech tipster Debayan Roy (@Gadgetsdata) has a different read on it, suggesting the Z11 is actually following the Apple iPhone Air’s design philosophy, which also uses a horizontal camera bar. That framing is a stretch, but it does point to a broader trend: horizontal rear bars are becoming a thing across the industry, not just a Google quirk.
On the specs side, the Z11 is shaping up to be a genuinely capable mid-ranger. Here’s what’s expected under the hood:
- Dimensity 7500 chipset
- 50MP main camera with OIS
- 32MP secondary shooter
- In-display fingerprint scanner
- Plastic frame construction
- IP68 and IP69 water and dust resistance ratings
That IP68 and IP69 combo at this price point is actually impressive, if it lands. Most phones at this tier offer one or the other, not both. And a 50MP shooter with OIS on a budget mid-ranger is the kind of spec that can genuinely compete on paper.
Pricing is expected to land around Rs. 35,000 for the Indian market. That puts the Z11 in a crowded but competitive bracket, going up against well-established options from Samsung, Motorola, and Xiaomi. iQOO has built a solid reputation in India for punching above its price class, especially on performance, so the brand has real credibility here.
But the design conversation isn’t going away before launch. Right or wrong, the Pixel comparisons will follow this phone everywhere. Whether that ends up hurting iQOO or just generating free attention is something we’ll find out soon enough.