Pixel 9 users are still dealing with a major bug - has Google just given up?

It seems Google has abandoned the Pixel 9 to be plagued by a nasty bug that's been there from the start and has not been fixed nearly half a year later.  

The Pixel 9 was announced back in August of last year, and we're already seeing high-quality renders of its successor, the Pixel 10. I guess Google is busy prepping the next iteration of its phones to pay attention to an annoying bug that's been on the Pixel 9 since the start.

Yep, I'm talking about the GPS issue that many Pixel 9 users have had to face. A user reached out to the folks at Android Headlines to showcase this long-lasting bug that apparently the Mountain View tech giant hasn't been paying attention to. People on Reddit have also been reporting the bug since the start but with no fix from Google.

Reports on this thread have been going on for months. The issue is that the GPS fails to map a straight line and this could be problematic for navigation. The GPS on the phone seems to be unable to precisely determine its position and as you can see, it's line is jagged, showing an issue with connectivity:



It's likely that Google didn't prioritize this issue because smartphones use cellular networks to navigate on Google Maps, Waze, and other navigation apps. However, if you're outside of coverage of a cellular network, the phone should use GPS.

However, it is not even clear whether the issue is a software or a hardware problem. If it's due to software, it could be more easily fixed with an update and probably would have been so far, despite being a minor issue. At least, you could expect a fix in the future.

But if the issue is related to the phone's hardware, then it won't be fixable with an update, and the affected users will have to... well, deal with it, or get a new phone.

Meanwhile, Google is likely focused on the upcoming Pixel 9a, which has extensively leaked to the point that we expect no surprises during its official unveiling, and on the flagship series Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, and Pixel 10 Pro XL, which also leaked recently.

So, it seems unlikely that it's high on the priority list of Mountain View. Meanwhile, Google has been dealing with some issues recently as well with a huge bug affecting hundreds of Chromecast devices and making them virtually unusable, or a Pixel 4a danger that freaked out Google Australia to the point of recalling the phone.