Google Pixel

Google says Pixel battery drain should be fixed in July and September updates

Ben Schoon | Jul 30 2026 - 7:40 am PT

Google Pixel users have been running into battery drain issues for the past few months but, with the latest and upcoming updates, Google says it should be fixed – though early reports suggest otherwise.

Back in April, hundreds of user reports confirmed that updates had caused some battery drain issues on Google’s Pixel phones. Some of those affected were seeing impacts that would effectively cut battery life in half.

And, over the past few months, it’s still happening.

This week, Google posted an update on an Issue Tracker thread to close out the issue, saying that a fix is now in place. Google explains that the July 2026 update for Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 series devices should fix the battery drain issues, while Pixel 8a and Pixel 9a will get a fix in September.

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Google has fixed the “Severe Idle Drain: kepler_spi_irq_handler & gnss_ipc Suspend Aborts” issue. A fix has been merged in the July MPR(CP2A.260705.006) release for Pixel 9 Pro XL/Pixel 9 Pro/ Pixel 9/Pixel 10 Pro XL/Pixel 10 Pro/Pixel 10/Pixel 10a.

For Pixel 8a/Pixel9a, the fix will be included in the Sep QPR.

There are a couple of problems here still, starting with no mention of other affected Pixel devices. There have been plenty of Pixel 7 series and Pixel 8 series devices affected. Meanwhile, users also just disagree with Google’s “fixed” status, saying that battery drain is as bad as ever. There are over 50 comments largely filled with backlash at Google for closing the issue, saying that it’s not been fixed.

Let us know in the comments below if the July update made any difference for you. We’ll continue to monitor if Google provides any further updates on this issue.

Thanks Simone!