Older Pixel smartphones might be left behind as a brand new Android 16 function heads to newer Google gadgets.
Google seems set to roll out a hotly anticipated Battery Well being menu as half of Android 16 for Pixel telephones – however solely these launched up to now 12 months or so.
The brand new Battery Well being menu has been cropping up in Android code for a while now, earlier than showing in full as half of the Android 16 Beta 3.
It guarantees to supply a useful breakdown of how a lot a phone’s battery cell has degraded with use and time – a facility that Apple’s iPhone vary has supplied for years.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
When questioned on Google’s Concern Tracker why this function wasn’t exhibiting up on older Pixel gadgets – and by ‘older’ we imply as much as and together with the Google Pixel 8 Professional, launched in late 2023 – a Google consultant responded with the next:
“The Battery Well being Indicator function is at the moment supported in Beta 3 on Pixel 8a and Pixel 9 merchandise together with 9 Professional Fold. Attributable to product limitations, this function will not be out there on older in-market Pixel gadgets.”
This doesn’t utterly preclude the brand new Battery Well being menu showing on older Pixel gadgets in some unspecified time in the future. Google’s response was particularly in relation to the Android 16 beta, not the complete launch.
Nevertheless, the phrase “this function will not be out there on older in-market Pixel gadgets” comes with the implication that the corporate isn’t wanting any again additional than the Google Pixel 8a, which launched simply over a 12 months in the past.
Would it not be unusual and deeply annoying if Google’s last-gen entry mannequin packed a brand new UI function that its ‘Professional’ massive brother, working on the identical chip, did not? You guess it might.
