Google rolled out its Pixel Feature Drop for the month of June a couple of weeks ago. The quarterly software release introduced a bunch of features in compatible phones. It turned out the particular update might also cause notable issues for some users, including an unusual battery drain.
The June Pixel Feature Drop update, which is based on the Android 13 QPR3 (quarterly platform release), intended to bring new capabilities to Pixel phones such as adaptive charging and 3D wallpapers. Spotted by 9to5Google, a number of users have started to share their complaints on Reddit about the firmware being the possible cause of abnormal overheating and battery drain issues.
Overheating and battery problems might be isolated to the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 7
Based on the thread, it appears that these problems only affect the Pixel 6 (Pro) and Pixel 7 (Pro) rather than being a widespread issue with older Google Pixel handsets or the newer Pixel 7a which we reviewed. One of the common concerns among users was the battery life of their device which became outright unreliable after updating to the latest build. Some have even described overheating issues as another bane.
One account also mentioned that the Pixel launcher is to blame for these issues, which showed heavy battery consumption in the background after checking the battery log. Another noted how the Pixel 7 Pro doesn’t even last for a full day of use after running on the said firmware.
However, not all posts in the thread were about complaints. A few users highlighted how the June Pixel Feature Drop also fixed many bugs like the cellular signal bars showing no network or service in a few instances being addressed. There is even a Redditor who mentioned how the update resulted in better battery performance in the Redditor’s Pixel 7 Pro (review).
Right now, it remains unclear if the software is really to blame. Google has not confirmed this just yet. If there were really some concerns, the Internet search giant could likely address this with the upcoming security patch in July.
Are you running on the latest Android 13 version on your Pixel phone? Did you experience any of the issues mentioned above? Tell us your answers in the comments.
