Dangerous battery life in your Pixel 10? This may be the explanation why

The Google Pixel 10 collection has lots going for it, however the Android Authority crew nonetheless has blended opinions on its battery life. The smaller handsets appear to take us via a day with out concern, however a few of us are having a extra nerve-racking time making an attempt to make it to the tip of the day with the XL. What the crew can agree on is that the telephones are not all the time as constant as we’d like.

To resolve why we’ve got such blended emotions about this yr’s fashions, I grabbed the Pixel 10 Professional XL, final yr’s 9 Professional XL, and a Galaxy S25 Extremely and peeked inside their secretive software program battery energy consumption information.

For some real-world impressed exams, I picked numerous network-related use circumstances of various depth for a broad pattern of information. I ran every take a look at twice — as soon as on 5GHz Wi-Fi and as soon as on mobile information. For the mobile portion of the take a look at, I’m situated on a rural 4G+ (LTE Superior) sign with a fairly questionable -104dBm sign energy and a depressing 4Mbps obtain pace, which represents in all probability one of many worst-case situations a cellphone may discover itself in. Handset screens have been additionally calibrated at 300-nits to make sure equity. Listed below are the outcomes.

The excellent news is that idle battery life is nothing untoward. All three take a look at telephones have comparable energy attracts, no matter whether or not you’re idling on Wi-Fi or mobile information. Energy draw additionally stays comparable throughout all three telephones when streaming YouTube or downloading a medium-sized file over Wi-Fi.

Nevertheless, that’s the place the similarity between fashions ends — latest Pixel flagships usually eat noticeably extra energy than my Galaxy. Each Pixels drained extra battery within the Wi-Fi net searching and Zoom name exams than my Galaxy S25 Extremely. Nevertheless, what’s extra regarding is the a lot greater energy draw noticed when utilizing 4G information in all 4 of the take a look at conditions. They’re far greater than something the Samsung flagship reaches, inflicting the telephones to eat a mean of over 2.5W in comparison with simply over 2W for the Galaxy.

Elevated battery drain on mobile is regular, particularly in weak sign areas like my residence, the place the cellphone compensates by pumping extra energy to the antennas. Nevertheless, each Pixel fashions generally see an even bigger proportion change in energy draw when utilizing 4G than the Galaxy. In actual fact, the scenario appears to be even worse with the newer Pixel 10 Professional XL, which could clarify why we’re discovering this yr’s mannequin so temperamental.

The 2 regarding take a look at outcomes have one factor in widespread: they’re bandwidth-heavy. Downloading a reasonable file and buffering a 1080p YouTube video attempt to max out the connection’s bandwidth. By comparability, loading up web sites and sending compressed video information are comparatively much less demanding.

The conclusion to attract right here is that the Pixel’s mobile modem and/or radio parts draw far more energy than their Wi-Fi parts when beneath a demanding load, corresponding to downloading a whole lot of information on a poor-quality connection. Each are additionally energy hungry in comparison with their Snapdragon counterparts, which appear to eat a extra constant stage of energy whatever the job or the usage of Wi-Fi or mobile information.

Whereas I’d must run extra situations to be completely positive, the Pixel 10 Professional XL seems to point out extra variable mobile efficiency than its predecessor — an odd end result given each telephones use the Samsung Exynos 5400 modem alongside their respective Tensor G4 and G5 chips.

The distinction might come right down to software program energy administration, thermal habits, or firmware tuning. {Hardware} adjustments are one other chance: Google swapped out a number of low-level parts with the transfer to the Tensor G5, although it’s unclear whether or not the radio entrance finish or power-management IC modified too — each of which might considerably have an effect on these outcomes.

Regardless of the trigger, the Pixel 10 Professional XL actually appears to eat fairly a bit extra energy on my native 4G community than it does on residence Wi-Fi, which might nicely be the reason for your doubtful battery life in addition to mine.

This additionally matches what my colleague Rita observed in on a regular basis use; the Pixel 10 Professional XL’s battery life can simply final a full day at residence, however presents atrocious screen-on time whereas roaming. Sadly, prospects have been reporting comparable issues because the Pixel 6, and it nonetheless isn’t mounted.

The one resolution is just not one thing anybody needs to suggest; attempt to keep away from data-heavy streaming whereas on the go. Video calls, high-resolution video streams, and downloading information all drain Pixel battery life quicker than flicking via Fb and searching the net, particularly when venturing into areas of poor connectivity. In the event you can preload your media at residence earlier than heading out, your battery nervousness will thanks.

Till Google can higher optimize its modem or radio tuning, Pixel house owners could must maintain a battery pack useful when venturing off Wi-Fi.

We reached out to Google for remark earlier than publication and can present an replace if we obtain a response.