Pixel 11 gets October's security patch, but still misses QPR1

The October Pixel download is two updates that share a date. On a Pixel 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro XL or 11 Pro Fold it becomes CD1A.261005.003, or CD1A.261005.003.B1 on SoftBank: security patches, a camera-orientation fix, and no Android 17 QPR1. On a Pixel 6 through Pixel 10 it is a CP3A.261005 build that includes QPR1. GrapheneOS says that branch stutters when memory is tight.

9to5Google's October 6 rollout list runs from the Pixel 6 series through Pixel 11, and it includes the Pixel Tablet and Pixel Fold. The strings diverge. Pixel 6, 6 Pro, 6a, 7, 7 Pro, 7a, Tablet and Fold are CP3A.261005.002.A1. Pixel 8 models through the Pixel 10a, including the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Pixel 10 Pro Fold, are CP3A.261005.005. Global Pixel 11 models are CD1A.261005.003. The October 7 follow-up reads that prefix as base Android 17, not the quarterly release.

The new phones launched in August on the base release and, by that same account, took two maintenance updates in September. GrapheneOS says one of them, early in the month, carried patch level 2026-09-01, was not QPR1, and omitted September's Pixel firmware and driver patches. No report here quotes Google on a QPR1 date. 9to5Google doubts a second October build and treats December, closer to QPR2, as a plausible moment to line the models up. That is a guess.

Where QPR1 did land, it is interface work. 9to5Google lists system blur on the volume slider and power menu, a media player that narrows when other apps are open, a "Don't ask me again" control on the Mobile Data tile, and a Keyboard Quick Settings tile. The Pixel 11 October build has none of them.

The functional changelog 9to5Google copied from Google's community notice has three items. A keyboard that fails to appear in search fields is fixed on Pixel 8 devices and later, Pixel 11 included. Distorted ringtone audio on some VoIP calls is fixed only on Pixel 8 through Pixel 10. Photos or video saved in the wrong orientation is fixed only on the Pixel 11 family. Chapters in the October video follow that list, then turn to kernel trouble and scroll lag. The description calls them lingering bugs. It does not say how common they were.

Waiting on QPR1 would also wait out the patch level. The Android Security Bulletin, published October 5, says 2026-10-01 or later covers its issues. It highlights a critical System flaw that can escalate privileges locally with no user interaction. The System table goes further: four critical privilege escalations and two critical denial-of-service bugs. Framework and System together list 25 CVEs. 9to5Google reported 28 issues in that October 1 patch. The tables do not show the extra three, and the Play rows only repeat System CVEs.

The Pixel bulletin, published October 6, says a 2026-10-05 level covers both bulletins and that every supported Google device is due that level. It adds six CVEs, two in kernel components and four under Pixel, three of those four rated critical. None is described as the memory-pressure regression, and the functional notes still point at the three-item changelog.

GrapheneOS is specific: "Android 17 QPR1 was released for Pixels on September 15. It has a regression in the Pixel kernel driver tree causing stuttering, lag and outright freezes under memory pressure." The fault came in with Pixel firmware and drivers, a fix has already shipped in GrapheneOS's own release, and stalled processes can be killed. The post also suggests Google noticed the bug and held QPR1 off the Pixel 11. Google has not said that.

Android Authority relayed the finding on October 5, before these builds, and its summary adds app crashes under memory pressure. Stock phones on QPR1 can be affected, it wrote, because the code is Google's, and they were still waiting on a fix. The October 6 changelog never mentions the regression, so the notes do not show one in either new build.

Install the October build on a Pixel 11, then check for CD1A.261005.003, or the .B1 SoftBank string. A CP3A file from an older Pixel is the wrong model, and it is the branch with the kernel report. On Pixel 6 through Pixel 10, the Tablet or the Pixel Fold, install for the patch level. If the stutter repeats, write it down next to the build string. Google's notes do not offer a factory reset, and GrapheneOS's remedy was a kernel change. The new phones are missing interface changes older phones already have. The older phones may be missing smoothness these notes do not claim to restore. Neither gap has a date.