Older Pixel telephones could 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 a part of Android 16 for Pixel smartphones – however solely these launched prior to now yr 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 a part of the Android 16 Beta 3.
It guarantees to supply a useful breakdown of how a lot a telephone’s battery cell has degraded with use and time – a facility that Apple’s iPhone vary has provided for years.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
When questioned on Google’s Subject Tracker why this function wasn’t displaying 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 present supported in Beta 3 on Pixel 8a and Pixel 9 merchandise together with 9 Professional Fold. On account of product limitations, this function won’t 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 sooner or later. Google’s response was particularly in relation to the Android 16 beta, not the total launch.
Nevertheless, the phrase “this function won’t be out there on older in-market Pixel gadgets” comes with the implication that the corporate isn’t trying any again additional than the Google Pixel 8a, which launched simply over a yr in the past.
Wouldn’t it be unusual and deeply annoying if Google’s last-gen entry mannequin packed a brand new UI function that its ‘Professional’ large brother, operating on the identical chip, didn’t? You wager it will.