Google Pixel laptop coming with Hue-style lighting – but what is "Pixel Glow"?

Code referring to something called "Pixel Glow" has been revealed in Android 17 beta code, suggesting that the new feature will be coming to future Pixel devices.

Accompanying the details, there's a description that explains more – it "uses subtle light and colour on the back of your device to inform you of important activity when it’s face down."

It's also said that Pixel Glow will illuminate when talking to Gemini, something that is currently indicated by a pattern on the screen.

Pixel Glow, it seems, is a light-based notification system that will use both flashes and colours. It sounds a little like Nothing Phone's Glyph Interface, which also uses flashing lights on the back of its devices, too.

Where does "Pixel Glow" come from?

What's interesting about this leak – discovered by 9to5Google in Android Canary and Beta builds – is that this feature will be available on both phones and laptops.

In the settings page that the source was able to access, it checks whether this is a desktop or not. There are fewer details of exactly how the system will work on a laptop, but there is an icon suggesting it is a very real laptop experience.

That raises a whole lot of questions: integrating coloured lighting into the back of a phone is relatively simple, although there isn't anything obvious on the Pixel 11 renders that have leaked so far.

But, on a laptop that's less obvious. It's not the first time that Google has used coloured lighting on laptops however – the Chromebook Pixel way back in 2013 had that feature, as did the Pixel C.

The pairing of Pixel Glow with laptops suggests that Google has a new model in the works, something that will run Android and feature a light bar on the lid in some form.

As for phones, it seems more of an obvious thing to include, although it has to be said that just because a feature appears in beta software, there's no guarantee it'll definitely appear in a production device soon.