Google can't make a map app work on its own phones, but it can raise prices and slap more health-tracking sensors on your wrist. That tells you everything about where this company's priorities land.
Pixel 11 owners are reporting severe glitches with Google Maps running through Android Auto, according to Android Police. The symptoms: screen flickers, black static, graphical artifacts, low frame rates, and full freezes. This isn't a minor inconvenience — glitches hitting your navigation screen while you're driving are genuinely dangerous. The bug appears restricted to Maps on the Pixel 11 line, with users confirming other apps in split-screen mode work fine and older Pixel models aren't affected. The complaints have been rolling in for about a month with no fix in sight.
Meanwhile, Google just raised the price of its Pixel Watch 5 by $50 over last year's model, as CNET reports. The new wearable starts at $400 and pushes new health-tracking features including blood pressure and insulin resistance monitoring. More sensors, more data, more cost to the consumer. CNET also noted the Pixel Watch 5 sticks with Gorilla Glass 5 — the same protection as last year's model — which CNET's own reviewer said picked up "some deep scratches" from a trail run. Apple's competing Watch Series 12 ships with Ceramic Shield 2 and didn't raise its $399 starting price.
So here's the math: Google can't deliver stable navigation on its flagship phone, but it can invest in harvesting more of your biometric data and charge you more for the privilege. The Pixel Watch 5 tracks your vitals; Google Maps can't even track the road without freezing. One of these product lines collects intimate personal health data. The other is a basic utility that just needs to show you a map without glitching. Guess which one gets the price hike and which one gets ignored.
Android Police recommended users switch to a different map app in the meantime — a remarkable admission that Google's own product is unreliable on Google's own hardware. When your own reviewers tell people to use a competitor's app because yours might cause an accident, you've lost the thread.
The pattern is familiar across Big Tech: core functionality erodes while surveillance capabilities and AI integration expand. The company that can't fix a flickering map screen wants you to trust it with your blood pressure data. The question isn't whether Google has the talent to fix these bugs. The question is whether it has the will — or whether serving users just isn't the priority anymore.
