Do you use a Google Pixel 6a phone? Prepare for your battery to get clobbered.

[thewayne]

Not long ago, Google released an update that slammed the batteries in the Pixel 4 phone. That phone had batteries from two different makers, and it was found that one of those batteries did not age gracefully, the update greatly reduced its ability to charge to reduce its likelihood of bursting into flames. They also offered various compensation schemes to get the battery replaced or retire and replace the phones, but the hoops they put in place for said compensation were rather onerous.

Well, the circle has come around again and now it's the 6a's turn. But this time, the phone isn't particularly old. This one still has two years of updates available, and the compensation is higher than what was offered to owners of the 4. But it appears that the terms are just as bad, you'll need to make sure the screen is absolutely perfect and that there's nothing else at all wrong with the phone and that you read all the fine print before you try to comply with any of the terms.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/a-mess-of-its-own-making-google-nerfs-second-pixel-phone-battery-this-year/

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/07/11/1921242/google-nerfs-second-pixel-phone-battery-this-year

Comments

[white_aster]

Makes me glad I exited the Pixelsphere when I bought a new phone earlier this year. I had a 3a, and I wonder if the update that affected the 4 was why suddenly my 3a was not making it through the day. That was my major reason for getting a new phone - I would do nothing but have it show me webpages or an ebook and be down to 40% by the end of the day. God forbid I had a Zoom call, I'd need to plug it in if I wanted to do anything else that day.

One of the things I liked about the Pixel was that it Just Worked. If they're starting to make questionable design and update decisions like this, then I'm glad I noped out. (Also I didn't want to give up a headphone jack. "This phone is $250 cheaper and you don't need to fuck about with bluetooth headphones" sold me.)

[dewline]

I'd rather have a headphone jack than not on my cleverphone too.

[white_aster]

I am Annoyed that they have decided that I need to buy new headphones. I have perfectly good ones! And it's becoming more difficult to find jacks on certain tiers of phones, sadly. I am worried that in another 7 years I'm going to have trouble still finding one with a jack in it.

[disneydream06]

So glad I didn't go with a google phone. :o
Hugs, Jon

[moonhare]

My 3a was failing frequently: shutting down in the middle of use. I didn’t have battery issues at least. The 9 has behaved thus far.

[gingeriana]

Omg, this is exactly what happened to my husband's phone last month, wow!
we didn't realize this is a systemic issue, we didn't google that either tho, just assumed he kept it in a wrong place with direct sun on it

anyways.he stayed with google phone, lol. the camera in the last iteration is really cool, especially thr zoom. if this phone serves for about three years too -- totally worth it.

[thewayne]

At least now you know what might have happened to it.

[ranunculus]

Three years ago I was drooling over the camera in the Pixel phone. Then I got one and HATED it. Went right back to a Samsung, which has it's issues, but works for what I want and has a decent camera.

[thewayne]

When it came to smart phones, I went from a Palm Pilot to an iPad Touch and when I finally bought a smart phone, it was an iPhone 4.  I'm very, very happy with the camera in my base iPhone 16.  I understand Samsung's cameras are pretty cool, I'm glad you're happy with them.  I think this is my 5th iPhone, the only reason I upgraded was my previous one had a couple of problems that defied diagnostics, this one has been quite solid and I'd like to get a good 5 years out of it.  For serious photography, I have serious cameras.

[silveradept]

Good to know. Not on that series of Pixel, and will probably jump for a used OnePlus on the next upgrade cycle if the price is right.

Would love to have things like the Fairphone, or to have the Framework folks take a crack at making a smartphone, such that we could have things that were powerful, long-lasting, and had easily serviceable and replaceable parts to keep them going for very long times, or to successfully upgrade systems without having to get rid of the entire handset. I think the era of replacing one's phone at the end of the contract has finally popped, and now we are shifting to the era where having a phone you can hold on to for the entirety of the Google official support updates lifecycle will be the norm.

[thewayne]

I haven't been reading a lot of repairability reports from iFixit of late, I know Apple has done some good stuff with their battery adhesives in terms of making it easier to get them out of their cases.