Google nerfs Pixel 6a batteries following fire hazard

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/a-mess-of-its-own-making-google-nerfs-second-pixel-phone-battery-this-year/

33•fffrantz•3h ago

Comments

unethical_ban•2h ago

If only there were a way to quickly swap out defective, used batteries for new, safe batteries without needing to return a critical device to the manufacturer.

dmitrygr•2h ago

Someone needs to first make replacement batteries in the right dimensions, voltage, etc...

homebrewer•1h ago

It takes about five seconds after a new phone is released for Chinese factories to design and start selling all sorts of accessories, including batteries. High quality ones too.

The average consumer needs to be able to swap it without doing deep surgery on the phone, and that's on the phone's manufacturer.

dmitrygr•1h ago

The same factories that made the current battery that is a fire risk. yes. or maybe different ones, with no vetting for how dangerous their batteries are.

ghusto•1h ago

Yes, in all likelihood the same factories. Which still make your choices a battery that needs replacing but can't be without voiding your warranty, or a battery that needs replacing that you can swap out easily. Am I missing something?

asadotzler•1h ago

some goal post moving going on here.

dmitrygr•59m ago

Goalposts have always been the same: pocket/table/house not on fire

luckylion•39m ago

The same factories you wouldn't trust with the replacement also make the originals. So you wouldn't buy a phone at all?

dmitrygr•34m ago

Because a deep-pocketed company can be sued to recover the cost of my house - Samsung, Google, or Apple, and they take all possible precautions to make sure this isn't needed. Not going to successfully sue "big luck bright shine battery company of shenzhen"

SideQuark•1h ago

Pretty much any phone repair store swaps them out in store. I've done exactly a Pixel 6 recently.

readthenotes1•1h ago

I think it's sad and funny that most of the replies to this assume the difficulty of the non-replaceable battery. For years, it was the way things worked. Smaller battery, maybe a spare in your pocket. Then the iPhone:(

AceJohnny2•1h ago

Reminds me of the iPhone throttling battery fiasco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate

What happened was:

1. Battery defects caused some of them to underperform, leading the battery management subsystem to shut down the phone due to voltage drop when too much current was drawn.

2. To work around the shutdown issue (very bad), Apple implemented throttling (IMHO less bad) in a new version of iOS, to prevent too much current from being drawn. They figured the throttling would be so light as to be unnoticeable to users, except...

3. Benchmarkers noticed the throttling, and all hell broke loose.

Battery defects are unfortunate, but the decision to make them not user-serviceable leads to a host of bad downstream decisions.

(Of course, making them user-serviceable also leads to a host of other difficult decisions, and I'm not just talking about opening the case. What happens to system design when you can no longer trust the battery's specs?)

ryao•1h ago

My recollection is different. The batteries were not defective. They simply got old in terms of cycle life and once they were old enough, they could not support the peak current needed by the phones causing crashes. Apple shipped an iOS update that throttled the CPU frequencies of phones with old batteries and called it a stability update without explaining anything. Phones stopped crashing, but started to become slower. Then 12-18 months later, people realized how the update worked and there was outrage because of how Apple handled it. Then Apple shipped an update to give customers visibility into this, published documentation and offered to replace batteries that were below 80% capacity for $29 for a year.

giingyui•1h ago

> “We found that a small number of iPhone 6S devices made in September and October 2015 contained a battery component that was exposed to controlled ambient air longer than it should have been before being assembled into battery packs. As a result, these batteries degrade faster than a normal battery and cause unexpected shutdowns to occur. It’s important to note, this is not a safety issue.”

Seems a defect to me.

ryao•52m ago

I had forgotten about those, since they had not been relevant to the controversy at the time. The controversy had applied to nearly all iPhones at the time, not just the small number of iPhone 6s devices with batteries that degraded prematurely due a manufacturing issue. The only ones that were exempt were the oldest iPhones that did not receive iOS updates anymore such that they never received an update that throttled the CPU when the battery was degraded. Had Apple given users documentation on its throttling patch and visibility into battery health upfront, there would never have been any controversy.

The current issue affecting Google Pixel 6a phones is a safety defect, which is quite different than Apple’s throttling controversy. It has more in common with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7.

refulgentis•22m ago

^ vouch

Also boo on Google for not being open and honest about this.

I'm sure the lawyers believe in minimizes...something?...by not going officially on the record that the reason is there's a heightened risk of fire. All corpospeak, the original was: "Pixel 4a will receive an automatic software update to Android 13 that introduces new battery management features to improve the stability of the battery. This update will reduce your battery’s runtime and charging performance.", and I presume this one isn't better.

Then again, that "forget about Nvidia" blog last week with the extremely poorly designed melting connector that they don't cop to is probably worse.

maxglute•1h ago

First 4a, now 6a. At least they're giving 100 USD this time and 6a batteries not total dogshit like 4a and it won't turn into landline.

Annoying 150 USD store credit can't go towards something like Youtube Premium. Or multiple 6a credits can't be stacked on 1 device. Cause I'm never touching a pixel again.

luckylion•1h ago

Yeah, while I liked the pixel 4a, I just upgraded to a 7a because of this nonsense (thankfully I did not go with a 6a!) If they come for the 7a next year, I won't choose a pixel again either.

Sure, I could send it in for a battery replacement. and not have a phone for a week or two, and get my phone back or maybe not.

gruez•1h ago

>Sure, I could send it in for a battery replacement. and not have a phone for a week or two, and get my phone back or maybe not.

There's walk-in replacements in select countries:

>Starting July 21, 2025 battery replacement will be available:

>At walk-in repair centers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore, Japan, and India.

>[...] Additional battery replacement capability is expected in Japan, France, some other parts of Europe, and Australia soon.

luckylion•47m ago

Yes, I'm aware. I checked when they killed the pixel4: there's no shop close to me.

I wouldn't spend half a day to get to an authorized partner and back and have it repaired, it's not worth that much.

kotaKat•18m ago

I got told mine doesn't qualify. I'm now worried, will this mean it's going to blow up some time down the line and Google's gonna forget about me?

xnx•1h ago

> Pixel 6a owners can get $100 in cash or $150 in store credit. Alternatively, Google offers a free battery replacement with the same limits on phone condition.

This seems very fair

gruez•1h ago

Yeah, most people would not mind getting a free battery replacement 2-3 years after they bought their phone.

mook•39m ago

From the article comments, that only applies if your phone is pristine (I guess because opening the phone stresses the screen, so if the screen has any damage it'll exacerbate the problem). Also linked in the article, getting the cash may be unreasonably difficult even in cases when they have a credit card on file that bought the phone.

Fripplebubby•34m ago

I just filled it out for store credit, and it didn't matter at all the condition of my phone (it's in horrible shape), I just put in the IMEI number and that was that. It could be different for cash, though.

eddythompson80•3m ago

This might be a different program, but NEVER use Google's trade-in program.

You might get lucky, but they use a third party to process the phones and they have ZERO oversight or control over them. It's extremely common to send in a perfectly working phone to get denied because it's DOA with whatever claim and google refuses to do anything about it because "it's an external partner"

kesslern•1h ago

I just ran into this on my wife's phone. I started removing the tempered glass screen protector to replace with a new one and the whole screen came up. The battery had started to puff up enough to lift the edge of the screen.

ChrisArchitect•1h ago

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44447802

fffrantz•10m ago

Sorry for double posting, missed it at the time!

pan69•57m ago

> The new July Android update adds "battery management features" that will make the phone unusable.

I didn't get from the article how the update will make the phone unsable.

lysace•52m ago

I get nervous when I see videos of people buying random Li-Ion/Po-battery powered crap from Teemu etc.

My personal policy for buying anything with such a battery: the seller must have a meaningful presence in my country and sell for at least like $10M/year.

craftkiller•8m ago

Their website says I am "not eligible" but that doesn't tell me if my pixel 6a is impacted or not. It would be nice if Google would tell me if my phone is a fire hazard.

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