The GrapheneOS project says it may skip Google's Pixel 11 series entirely, after discovering that the new phones drop support for ARM hardware memory tagging (MTE), a security feature the hardened Android distribution uses across its entire base operating system. In a detailed forum post, the GrapheneOS team said it built a partial port to the Pixel 11 over a week of work but could not complete it because MTE support is missing from software, firmware and, in all likelihood, the hardware itself.
The team alleges Google cut the feature to save money. MTE, which Pixel 8 devices introduced with hardware support in October 2023, protects against nearly all remote exploits and many local ones. GrapheneOS integrated it shortly after launch. The Pixel 11 brings other security gains, including post-quantum verified boot using ML-DSA, a switch from Samsung's Shannon IMS to AOSP IMS, and the Titan M3 chip. But for GrapheneOS, losing MTE outweighs them.
Pixel 11 missing a security feature GrapheneOS depends on
GrapheneOS relies on MTE throughout its kernel and every standard base OS process, with only a few device-specific processes temporarily excluded. It enables the feature automatically for more apps than stock Android and offers a per-app opt-out for incompatible software. By contrast, Android's Advanced Protection Mode in Android 16 activates MTE for only a handful of processes, and neither Apple nor Google push third-party developers to opt in. Apple's Memory Integrity Enforcement on the iPhone 17 is an always-on implementation of MTE, which GrapheneOS praised as well executed.
The project also criticized the Pixel 11's hardware value. It noted roughly 40% higher single-threaded CPU performance, 80% higher multi-threaded performance and over 100% higher GPU performance on a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which also supports MTE. The team said Pixel 11 pricing is higher for an incremental CPU improvement, the same underpowered GPU and less RAM on Pro base models.
- No ARM hardware memory tagging (MTE) support in software, firmware or likely hardware
