Google released its Pixel feature drop in March and a subsequent update earlier this month, with a range of new features. However, several Pixel smartphone users have reported battery drain issues following the recent updates. As per user reports on Reddit and the company’s support forums, the issue is affecting multiple Pixel generations. Some users claim their battery is draining suddenly, even when their devices are in airplane mode. Google has acknowledged the problem, but the company has yet to offer a fix.
Battery Drain Concerns Grow for Pixel Owners
Several Google Pixel 6, Pixel 7, Pixel 8, Pixel 9, and Pixel 10 users are facing severe battery drain following the most recent Pixel updates. Since the March 2026 rollout, some devices are reportedly experiencing severe idle battery loss. The latest Pixel drop didn’t seem to fix anything either, as just days after the April 2026 update, hundreds of user reports surfaced on Google’s Issue Tracker showing that the Pixel battery drain issue is widespread.
One discussion thread about the issue got more than 600 comments within just 10 days after the April Pixel drop. The exact cause of the battery drain is unknown yet, but User posts suggest that it might be due to excessive CPU wakeups and the CPU being unable to enter Deep Doze mode. The phone continues background activities even when the screen is off.
A user says he lost a whopping amount of battery life, in five to six hours, in airplane mode. Another user says, “Exynos baseband/GNSS module is caught in a persistent polling loop, causing a hardware interrupt storm even when the device is completely isolated in Aeroplane Mode with all radios manually toggled off”.
Google acknowledged the issue last week. The company has requested that affected users provide a comprehensive bug report for a deeper investigation into background processes and the name of the responsible app.
The company could offer a fix it in an upcoming update, possibly with the May 2026 patch.
