Did Android 13 improve the battery life on the Pixel 6 series? Great minds disagree

The update to Android 13 has been disseminated to compatible Pixel models (Pixel 4 series through the Pixel 6 series and the Pixel 6a) and now is the time to reflect on the improvements that have been made. As we pointed out last week, Google counted 151 bugs it exterminated with the latest Android build, and some Pixel 6 series users noticed a huge improvement in the speed and accuracy of the under-display fingerprint scanner.

Another improvement was spotted with the feature on the iPhone 6 series that dismisses alarms and timers by saying "Stop!" Before the update, this feature ran hot and cold but now works all of the time. One area where there doesn't seem to be a consensus is with the battery life of the Pixel 6 line post-update. Check out this post on Reddit by a user named aleemkhan123 who wrote, "I am seriously freaking out. Battery life totally SUCKS After updating to android 13 stable from 13 beta 4.1 Anyone having the same?"

Several users blamed the Samsung Health app, but others, like user badadam1969, disagreed. His post stated, "I have Samsung Health but it is not the problem. It is already optimized with the step counting turned off. It only uses around 3-5%. My SOT on Beta 4.1 was around 6-7 hours and after the stable update it's gone down to 4 hours with the same usage. I'll try a factory reset and see if that helps."

Yes, a few Pixel 6 series users said that after installing Android 13, the dreaded factory reset resulted in a big pop in SOT (screen-on time). Factory and reset are two separate words that this writer hates to hear used together, but if your SOT is only 3-4 hours, you might want to give it a shot. Make sure to backup your data first. Perhaps you will get the same results as Redditor Notnull3947392 who claims, "I did a factory reset after I upgraded to 13 and my battery seems ridiculously good. It's unreal how amazing the P6P is."

But be warned. Some Pixel 6 users say that a factory reset didn't change their SOT at all. Others recommend doing things such as disabling 5G, but what would be the point of paying for a phone that supports 5G just to disable 5G support? A better idea would be to buy a power bank and take it with you wherever you go.

As for this writer's Pixel 6 Pro, since yours truly spends most of each day inside slaving behind a QWERTY keyboard, my phone is usually plugged in. Yeah, not good for the long-term health of the battery, but it keeps me near 100% when it is time to go out (plus there is also a 36800mAh power bank I can bring).

The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have decently sized batteries weighing in at 4614mAh and 5003mAh respectively. Even before the Android 13 update came out there were mixed reviews about the batteries on the two phones. The Pixel 6 did have the top score on our YouTube Video Playback test back in November lasting 11 hours before conking out. The iPhone 13 Pro Max was next at 10 hours and 23 minutes, followed by the Pixel 6 Pro at 9 hours and 10 minutes. The Galaxy S21 Ultra (8 hours and 52 minutes), and iPhone 13 Pro (8 hours and 26 minutes) followed.

While the Pixel 6 has the smaller battery between the two, it also has a smaller screen with a 1080p resolution compared to the 1440p resolution on the Pixel 6 Pro display. The latter also has a refresh rate of 120Hz compared to 90Hz on the smaller phone.

We'd love to hear about your experience with the battery life on the Pixel 6 series following the Android 13 update. Did you notice a big improvement in SOT or did battery life get worse? If the latter, what were some of the things you tried to improve your SOT? You can answer in the comment section below.