C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
Google announced a mandatory Battery Health Assistance (BHA) feature for the Pixel 9a earlier this year. This feature essentially reduces the battery’s effective capacity and charging speeds as the cell ages, in the name of safety. This greatly concerned me, as the feature was optional for previously released Pixel phones.
Now, Google has confirmed that this feature is also mandatory on the Pixel 10 series of phones. And this decision isn’t great at best and very concerning at worst.
A drastic approach to battery health
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
The Battery Health Assistance feature for Pixel phones, including the Pixel 10 range, gradually reduces battery capacity and charging speed in stages. The feature starts capping battery life and charging speed at 200 charging cycles. However, it increasingly lowers the maximum battery life and charging speed all the way to 1,000 cycles. Crucially, the feature was introduced against the backdrop of a few Pixel A-series phones suffering from significant battery defects. And Google has tried hard to sweep these issues under the rug.
Some Pixel 4a units suffered from an increased risk of battery overheating. This resulted in a mandatory update for affected models that drastically reduced battery life and charging speed. Google would go on to offer this same mandatory update to some defective Pixel 6a units that were at increased risk of battery overheating and fires.
The Battery Health Assistance feature effectively does the same thing as these mandatory updates, although the downgrades seem more gradual than the Pixel 4a and 6a updates. Nevertheless, the fact that this is now compulsory on the Pixel 10 series implies that there’s either an issue with the Pixel 10’s long-term battery reliability or that Google is being extremely cautious to the detriment of users. Now, I’d choose Battery Health Assistance over a phone catching fire any day, but there are plenty of other ways rival brands address battery health.
For what it’s worth, we asked Google about the Pixel 10 line’s long-term battery reliability in the wake of Pixel-A defects: Every year Pixel has worked to improve thermal performance. That includes development of advanced software optimizations, cutting-edge hardware designs and manufacturing processes that balance high performance and power efficiency. In particular, our Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL devices include a vapor chamber while Pixel 10 has a graphite thermal solution. As a result, you should expect improved thermal performance this year. Improved thermal performance is one way to protect the battery over time. However, this isn’t a firm assurance that the Pixel 10 family won’t suffer from battery issues. This also comes against the backdrop of Google switching from Samsung to TSMC for its Tensor G5 chipset. TSMC has traditionally produced more efficient chips, but it would be a shame if Google can’t fully exploit this advantage due to Battery Health Assistance.
Even if the Pixel 10 series doesn’t have battery safety problems, Google is further reducing your phone’s battery life over and above standard degradation. That means rival phones could offer significantly longer endurance as time goes on. It could even result in a scenario where Pixel 10 devices beat some rival phones out of the box, but lag behind them after a year or two. This could mean some Pixel 10 owners might prematurely upgrade to a new phone or splash out on a new battery due to this steep decline in battery life. And it’s not like the rest of the industry is deliberately reducing your battery life and giving you no say.
Alternatives to Battery Health Assistance
Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority
Companies like Samsung, ASUS, and even Google let you set an 80% charging limit on your phone. This reduces the number of full charging cycles your battery is subjected to, slowing degradation over the longer term.
Some brands offer a fast-charging toggle in settings, which is another battery-friendly option. Fast charging increases the device temperature, and increased temperatures can be bad for your battery. HONOR goes a step further and uses slower charging by default, but offers an on-screen prompt to enable fast-charging when you plug in your phone.
Some brands also offer adaptive charging functionality, allowing the phone to dynamically adjust charging speed based on your habits. In fact, Google already offers this feature by default, as the phone pauses at 80% and then resumes charging to 100% an hour before you typically unplug it.
Do you think Google should make battery health assistance mandatory? 5788 votes Yes, absolutely 17 % No, this is completely wrong 83 %
Another sure-fire way to improve long-term battery health is to offer batteries that can withstand more charging cycles. Recent Pixel phones, including the Pixel 10 series, can withstand 1,000 charging cycles before dropping to 80% effective capacity. That’s on par with Apple and a few smaller brands, but well short of Samsung’s 2,000 cycles for its top-flight phones. It also falls short of OnePlus’s 1,600 charging cycles for its lithium-ion batteries, although it’s on par with the brand’s silicon-carbon batteries. So Google could’ve offered batteries with more charging cycles instead of artificially limiting your battery performance over time.
Either way, I don’t envy Pixel 10 series owners a couple of years down the line when their phones will be subjected to even more drastic charging and battery life limitations. So, if you’re not happy with battery life and charging speeds out of the box, you definitely won’t be happy a year or so later.
Google may have felt this measure necessary in light of its recent phones offering seven years of updates. But do you know what would be better than artificially limiting your battery? A removable one. However, that’s a debate for another time.
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