Google rolls out new fix to combat Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 series battery and overheating issues
Earlier this week, owners of Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 series smartphones started reporting experiences of reduced battery life. Purportedly, Pixel 6a through Pixel 7 Pro models were affected, which all exhibited high standby drain and battery life that lasted as little as three hours between charges. Seemingly, the bug did not hinge on software; Google started rolling out its May 2023 updates nearly a fortnight ago. Instead, it was speculated that this was a server-side issue.
Google has now confirmed as much to 9to5Google, which published the following quote:
A recent Google App backend change unintentionally resulted in a subset of Android devices experiencing accelerated battery drain. We rolled out a fix shortly after becoming aware of the issue, and impacted users should see their devices return to normal behaviour immediately. This fix does not require an app update.
Hence neither a factory reset or installing an older version of the Google App would rectify the issue. Also, the above quote confirms that the bug was nothing to do with the May update, which only made security improvements to eligible Pixel smartphones. Based on various forum posts, the server-side change has resolved any battery drain and overheating issues that have been occurring. Still, the bug could not have come at a worse time for Google, considering that it has just started shipping Pixel 7a pre-orders.
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