To make sure your new Pixel phone lasts as long as possible, Google is introducing a new feature called “Battery health assistance” that will debut on the Pixel 9a. This new feature aims to stabilize battery performance and aging, which seems like a good thing knowing that phones like the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9a will be supported for almost a decade.
A support page from Google details this new “Battery health assistance” for the Pixel 9a, saying that a software update will soon enable this. Once on the Pixel 9a, this new feature will adjust the maximum voltage of the battery in stages starting from the 200th charge cycle and continuing gradually until 1000 charge cycles.
Here’s the full text:
Lithium-ion batteries are consumable components that eventually require replacement. Your Pixel 9a will receive a software update that automatically helps manage the long term health and performance of its battery as it ages. This software will adjust the battery’s maximum voltage in stages that start at 200 charge cycles and continue gradually until 1000 charge cycles to help stabilize battery performance and aging.
You may notice small decreases in your battery’s runtime as your battery ages. Battery health assistance will also tune the phone’s charging speed based on adjusted capacity. You may notice a slight change in battery charging performance. Battery health assistance settings on Pixel 9a aren’t customizable by the user.
While this sounds like a good thing overall, do note the final sentence there – this setting is not customizable by you, the user. Instead, this will all happen automatically to help preserve your battery life over time. Part of the changes could involve charging speed. I sure hope you are OK with that.
That in mind, Google has apparently confirmed that this feature will arrive on additional Pixel devices later this year. For those devices, this feature will be voluntary and they will likely be able to enable or disable. However, the Pixel 9a (and presumably all devices following it like the Pixel 10) won’t have a choice here.
Maybe that cool new “Battery Health” section in Android 16 Beta 3 has something to do with this. We should know soon enough following the Pixel 9a’s launch on April 10.
// 9to5Google
