Google Pixel 10 (Pro) reduces battery capacity after just 200 charging cycles

Over the past few months, Google has angered many Pixel users as mandatory software updates drastically reduced the battery life of the Pixel 4a and Pixel 6a. With these updates, Google wanted to prevent old batteries from overheating, which in the worst case could cause a fire, but even the update apparently does not entirely prevent such incidents. With the Pixel 9a (from $499 on Amazon), Google finally introduced a feature called "Battery Health Assistance," which users cannot disable manually.

As Google confirmed to Android Authority, this feature is also part of the Pixel 10 series, and users have no way to turn it off. Specifically, this means that the battery voltage is automatically reduced after 200 charging cycles, and the voltage continues to drop until 1,000 charging cycles. A lower voltage results in shorter battery life since the capacity is effectively reduced, and charging also takes longer. Google has not specified how much shorter the battery life will become after 200 charging cycles.

Officially, the batteries of Pixel smartphones are supposed to have 80% of their original capacity after 1,000 charging cycles, but it remains to be seen how much of this capacity Pixel 10 owners will still be able to use. It is rather annoying that Google does not let customers disable this feature. Other manufacturers give users more freedom. For example, Apple’s iPhones do not throttle the battery itself but the processor in order to avoid voltage spikes. However, as a result of a class action lawsuit, users have the option to disable these "optimizations".