David Imel / Android Authority
TL;DR
- A security hacker and developer has investigated what went wrong with the Pixel 4a’s battery capacity.
- It looks like Google’s latest update specifically lowers the battery voltage on the Pixel 4a.
- The investigation also suggests that the “update of death” for the Pixel 4a specifically impacts phones with batteries from a particular manufacturer.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about Pixel 4a’s battery downgrade after what’s being deemed an “update of death.” If you’re a Pixel 4a user, you’ve probably heard about the issue or, worse, suffered its consequences. You may be asking if this is a bug or if this was an intentional move made by Google to cripple the Pixel 4a’s battery performance. Well, a new investigation claims changes made in the update might actually be responsible for your Pixel 4a suddenly running out of juice. It also suggests that the problem might not be impacting all Pixel 4a units, but those handsets that house a battery made by a particular manufacturer.
The latest Pixel 4a update was investigated by Hector Martin, a security hacker and lead developer on the Asahi Linux project, an open-source initiative focused on porting the Linux operating system to Apple silicon-powered Macs. Martin describes the Pixel 4a’s update of death as “a real hack job.”
What happened to the Pixel 4a’s battery?
According to Martin, the Pixel 4a’s recent update is intentionally lowering performance in a big way. There are a couple of things the developer notes about the update.
Firstly, it looks like the phone’s software used to let the battery charge up to a maximum of 4.44 volts, but the latest update now limits it to 3.95 volts. This change makes the battery capacity smaller, because now, the battery can store less energy at a time, resulting in decreased longevity before needing to be recharged again.
Martin goes on to explain, “3.87V nominal lithium polymer batteries have a max voltage of 4.45V or thereabouts, so the original setting was not wrong. But now they’re suddenly being very conservative.”
What he’s trying to say is that phone batteries typically have a maximum voltage they can handle safely. Manufacturers generally allow them to charge to their full potential so that users can get the most out of a device. The Pixel 4a apparently used to let the battery reach close to its maximum voltage, around 4.45V, but after the latest update, Google is being more cautious, resulting in the drastic drop in performance users are noticing.
Not all Pixel 4a units affected
Martin found that the Pixel 4a has multiple battery profiles, depending on the type of battery inside. This isn’t an uncommon practice in the smartphone industry. There are two main types of batteries in the Pixel 4a made by different manufacturers. One is presumably manufactured by ATL, while the other is believed to be made by LSN. The Pixel 4a’s update of death apparently only affects one of those — the LSN batteries, which are the ones causing problems.
“You can tell which battery you have physically by the number next to the QR code. 8230015901 is ATL (good), and 8230020501 is LSN (bad). If you’re replacing your battery, make sure it’s ATL,” the developer warns.
