Older phones are often rarely given updates because it is not a priority. But this week Google is advising Pixel 6A owners to download a specific update for their device to resolve a heating issue that users have reported. After downloading the update, the battery capacity is reduced. This is the second incident of Google issuing an update reducing battery capacity after a similar issue was reported by Pixel 4A owners in January.
According to Google, the issue only occurs after the battery goes through 400 charging cycles. In addition to capacity, the battery charging performance is also reduced by the update. Customers affected by this issue will be contacted by Google for more information.
The update is being pushed out to Pixel 6A owners immediately after two incidents of devices randomly catching fire appeared on social media. This reminds us of the emergency update Samsung gave to Galaxy Note 7 owners who refused to return their devices with exploding batteries. Samsung then took the drastic step of immediately disabling the charging ability of the Galaxy Note 7 to stop the use of this risky device.