Google Pixel 9a comes with new feature that weakens the battery after just 200 charging cycles

A few days ago, Google published the release dates for the Pixel 9a:

• April 10: US, Canada and UK   
• April 14: Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, France, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, Poland, Czechia, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Finland  
• April 16: Australia, India, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia 
  

Despite the larger battery, the Pixel 9a's battery life could be shorter than that of the Pixel 9 after several months of use, as Google has officially confirmed in a support document that the Pixel 9a will be the first Pixel smartphone ever to have the so-called "battery health optimization" feature. In practice, this means that the battery voltage is automatically reduced as soon as it has reached 200 charging cycles. The voltage is then gradually reduced further until 1,000 charging cycles have been reached. A lower voltage inevitably leads to shorter runtimes and slower charging processes. Officially, this procedure is intended to "stabilize battery performance and wear," but it is strongly reminiscent of the battery update from hell that rendered some Google Pixel 4a phones almost unusable. Apple was found engaging in similar practices a few years ago, too.

Since Google doesn't provide any details on how much the voltage will be reduced, it is unclear just how much this will affect the battery life. Unlike the Apple iPhone, for example, deactivating these "optimizations" on the Google Pixel 9a will not be possible. In order to be able to use the full voltage of the battery again after 200 charging cycles or more, it would have to be replaced. Google has informed 9to5Google that this "battery health optimization" feature will be distributed to other Pixel smartphones later this year via a software update, but users of older smartphones will have the option of deactivating the feature.