It’s not a rumour we were expecting, but it appears Google is working on a new ‘Pixel Glow’ lighting system, which could debut on the Pixel 11 series.

In what sounds like a rival to Nothing’s Glyph lighting on the back of many of its phones, Pixel Glow, as it’s known, will give you notifications in a subtle way when the device is face down

This was spotted by 9to5Google. Previous software versions referenced it as “orbit” and “light_animations” but Android 17 Beta now explicitly calls it Pixel Glow.

It’s described as using “subtle light and color on the back of your device to inform you of important activity when it’s face down”.

The feature will mean you can have your phone screen hidden in a meeting or a café but still receive key alerts. Examples given are that the lights will inform you of a favourite contact calling and will also be active when using Gemini.

As you might imagine, you’ll also have some control over how Pixel Glow notifications work.

Onleaks / Android Headlines

The curious thing is that it would make sense for this feature to arrive on the Pixel 11 series this summer. However, the recently released renders of the design for all four models don’t appear to show an obvious new lighting system – as you can see.

It’s possible we can’t see it because they will be hidden in the ‘G’ logo, much like the way that earlier Apple MacBooks have a light-up logo on the rear of the lid – albeit just a static light.

Another option is that it’s somehow part of the camera bar, which, based on the CAD renders, has a tweaked design. It’s all black now with no metal section around the flash and there’s every chance Google has hidden lights under the glass, which wouldn’t show up in a CAD-based image.

The report also mentions that Google is working on a laptop which will also feature Pixel Glow lighting. Very little is known about the device so far and, although Google has been out of the laptop game for some time, it makes sense with desktop Android on the way.