The Pixel 10 could become Google's greatest smartphone ever with just one fix

I have been using the Google Pixel 10 as my daily driver for almost a year now, and I must say it has been no less than a roller coaster experience for me. My initial few months with the phone were definitely like a honeymoon period, where the device was impressing me in almost all departments. From cameras and AI features to overall performance, I found the phone to be checking all the boxes of an ideal Android smartphone.

But then Google released the March 2026 update, and it broke many crucial aspects of the device. I, personally, noticed a huge decline in the overall performance of the phone; the battery life was affected, and many users also experienced the boot loop issue. While the company addressed most of these concerns in the following updates, the battery-draining problem still persists even though the root cause is apparently known.

What's exactly causing the battery drainage issue

It's been a few months since Google acknowledged the issue and has also requested users to submit a bug report so that it can investigate the problem properly. But at the time of writing, there is no official confirmation on what exactly is causing the battery drain. However, my colleague Alan reports in his post that the problem is being caused because the CPU of the Google chipset is unable to sleep.

You see, when you turn off the screen of your Pixel phone, it goes into a state called Deep Doze. When this happens, the Tensor CPU process is dropped to its lowest working state. But because of the battery bug that apparently rolled out with the March update, some Pixel phones cannot go into the Deep Doze state.

This is basically causing the CPU to remain in the working state even when you are not using your phone. As a result, some Google phones are losing charge comparatively faster than before installing the March update. I was also able to spot a report of a Pixel 9 Pro user claiming that their phone lost almost 10% charge overnight.

How severe is the situation?

The Google Pixel 10 features a 4970 mAh battery, which definitely looks like a very small number when you compare it with its competitors like the OnePlus 15 that offers a 7300 mAh cell. But thanks to the software optimizations and the Tensor G5 chip, the device usually delivers an average screen-on time of around 7–8 hours, which is more than the iPhone 17, which in our in-house testing was found to deliver an estimated battery life of 6 hours and 13 minutes.

It's worth noting that the above-mentioned screen-on time was what my Pixel was delivering before the March update. After that, I rarely got 7 hours of screen-on time. Some users even report that their battery life has been cut in half since the update.

Note that I am specifically mentioning the Pixel 10 because I am facing this problem personally on it, but it definitely doesn't mean that the issue is exclusive to this phone. From Pixel 6 to Pixel 10 and the Pixel Fold, users of almost all the Pixel devices seem to be suffering from battery drain frustration. Interestingly, the issue seems so widespread that one of the related posts on the Google Issue Tracker has reached its comment limit (I have seen this for the first time).

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