Google reveals how many charging cycles you'll get from your Pixel 3-Pixel 9 phone
When the smartphone revolution first took hold, no one really cared about how long a battery would last. In those days, having a fully charged cell on your phone was as simple as opening the back panel, popping out the empty battery, and replacing it with a new fully charged one. Replaceable batteries have long since disappeared although the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) is seeking to bring them back.
Meanwhile, Google has published some new information that reveals how many charges you should expect to get out of the battery powering your Pixel phone before it is time to replace it. Pixel 8a and later models should be able to keep 80% capacity for about 1,000 charging cycles. Each charging cycle covers refilling your phone's battery from 0% all the way up to 100%. Pixel phones starting with the Pixel 3, up to and including the Pixel 8 Pro, should be able to hold 80% of the battery's charge for up to 800 charging cycles.
What this proves is that the newer Pixel models are more power efficient than the earlier Pixel handsets. The lithium-ion batteries used to power most smartphones only live so long before they must be replaced. Those running a Pixel 8a or later can monitor how much capacity their battery now has by going to Settings > About Phone > Battery information. The info you will see includes the number of times the battery has been charged when it was manufactured and the date the battery was first used.
With this information, you could figure out how many charging cycles the battery on your phone has left. It can also help reveal if the battery powering your phone is the original cell that the device came with.
A similar pattern can be seen with the iPhone. The iPhone 14 and previous models can hold on to 80% of capacity for 500 charging cycles. Showing a huge improvement, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 series models can continue holding on to 80% of the battery's capacity for 1,000 charging cycles which is a major improvement.
Optimizing the battery charging on a Pixel. | Image credit-PhoneArena
To slow down battery degradation on your Pixel phone, Google recommends that you don't use your Pixel while charging the battery and don't leave your Pixel exposed too long to the sun or high temperatures (95 degrees Fahrenheit/35 degrees Celsius or higher). Google also suggests that Pixel users enable the Adaptive Charging feature. This feature learns how you like to charge your phone and when you normally take the device off the charger each morning.
With Adaptive Charging, the phone slows down the speed at which it charges the battery and pauses at 80%. It finishes the charging process about one hour before you normally take the phone off the charger. On your Pixel go to Settings > Battery > Charging optimization. Toggle on "Use Charging Optimization" and choose between Adaptive Charging and stopping the charging at 80%.
Phone manufacturers are trying to extend the number of charging cycles a handset's original battery can handle before becoming completely useless to the phone's owner.
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