Putting aside the excellent Pixel 5, battery life was never one of the Pixel line-up’s strong suits. The Pixel, Pixel 2, and Pixel 3 had average battery life; the Pixel 4 and 6 series were pretty bad, while the Pixel 7 and 8 were very average. Last year’s Pixel 9 phones put the series on a better trajectory, despite the still questionable modem and Tensor G4 processor. With the Pixel 10 series, however, Google promised its best battery life yet — 30+ hours on a charge! — thanks to an optimized Tensor G5 and larger batteries on all models.
This claim is one of the reasons I chose to upgrade from my Pixel 9 Pro XL. My experience had been pretty average for a whole year, starting pretty decently, but then getting to a point where the battery would die by mid-afternoon on busy travel days, where I’d be using the camera and maps frequently throughout the day on 4G or 5G. I hoped the Pixel 10 Pro XL would fix this, but so far, I’m just left scratching my head.
How do you feel about battery life on the Pixel 10 series? 3366 votes Great, I get through the day no problem. 33 % Consistently average. 30 % Very inconsistent. 20 % Bad all the time. 17 %
Some days are great, some days are bad
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
I don’t think I’m a typical Pixel user. On most days, there are hours when I barely touch my phone while I’m working, and hours when I’m constantly using it, usually during the morning or when I’m testing some new app or feature. But I also go on short daytrips or short trips pretty often, which is when I rely on Google Maps’ transit directions to guide me throughout the day, and also when I take 100+ photos on average every day.
On top of this, my phone is constantly paired to my Pixel Watch 4 and Oura Ring 4. I’ve been testing several Bluetooth trackers with their own apps (Pebblebee, Moto, Chipolo) that require a constant connection, too. Plus, I use a few smart home apps that rely on geolocation (Nuki smart lock, Tado thermostat, Home Assistant) to trigger specific notifications or automations. All of it obviously creates a mishmash of criteria that can significantly influence the battery life of my phone.
Still, I can’t shake the feeling that my Pixel 10 Pro XL’s battery life is a bit of a crapshoot. Even on days that feel pretty similar, where I’m home, on Wi-Fi, and using similar apps, I get widely varying battery drain. One day, it’s down to 50% with three hours of screen-on-time, the other, it’s down to 42% while eking an impressive five-plus hours of screen time.
There are days when I go to bed with more than 40% of battery life remaining, and days when the phone goes into battery-saving mode at 8 PM, despite being at home for the whole of the day. There are days when I’m traveling and get back to my hotel at the end of the day without needing a power bank top-up, and days when I have to grab my Qi2 power bank in a rush because the battery plummeted to 30% mid-afternoon.
My colleague Rob has already theorized and proved that the Pixel 10 Pro XL’s battery usage goes up on data networks, probably due to the inefficient Exynos 5400 modem. But my experience is more erratic than just a matter of using 4G or Wi-Fi, or being in areas with bad reception or not. Sure, I notice more drain when I’m out of my home and specifically when I’m roaming, but as I said, there are days when I’m just home, and the Pixel 10 Pro XL rolls a dice and chooses average or great battery life.
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