The Pixel 9 ended a pretty bad streak for Google. There are plenty of reasons why Google’s Pixel phones are a solid choice for your next smartphone. While the low price may no longer be a factor, you still get great camera performance, smartly designed phones, exclusive AI features, and a place at the forefront of future Android updates.
What you wouldn’t normally buy for a Pixel phone is long battery life. Over the years, Google phones have been notorious for lagging behind the competition, especially in recent years when Qualcomm and Apple began prioritizing power efficiency in their chipsets. Even the Pixel phone with the longest battery life yet offered lackluster endurance – and that’s if you’re being generous.
But with the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL, things seem to have changed. It seems like Google has finally broken the curse of the Pixel’s poor battery life.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Battery size | Battery life (hrs:min) |
| Google Pixels 9 | 4,700mAh | 13:18 (Adaptive) |
| Google Pixel 9 Pro | 4,700mAh | 13:37 (Adaptive) |
| Google Pixel 9 Pro | 50.60mAh | 12:54 (Adaptive) |
| Google Pixels 8 | 4,575mAh | 9:48 (Adaptive) |
| Google Pixel 8 Pro | 5,050mAh | 8:42 (Adaptive) |
| Google Pixels 7 | 4,355mAh | 7:21 |
| Google Pixel 7 Pro | 5,000mAh | 9:21 |
Battery life on last year’s Pixel 8 wasn’t particularly impressive. It managed 9 hours and 48 minutes on the Tom’s Guide battery test, which involves browsing the web continuously over 5G at 150 nits of screen brightness. That was downright terrible compared to the phones on our best battery life page. But believe it or not, that was considered a good result for a Pixel, because the previous 2 generations were significantly lowerWe saw 7:21 for the Pixel 7 and 8:13 for the Pixel 6.
The Pro models didn’t fare much better either: The Pixel 6 Pro lasted 7:49 minutes, the Pixel 7 Pro 9:21 minutes, and the 8 Pro 8:42 minutes. Despite all the successes of the Pixel series, the battery life was pretty disastrous.
Fortunately, Google seems to have found a secret formula to keep the Pixel 9’s battery life from exploding faster than a stick of dynamite in a Road Runner cartoon. The Pixel 9 lasted 13 hours and 18 minutes in testing, which is just 10 minutes behind what the Samsung Galaxy S24 managed shortly after launch.
The Pixel 9 won’t nab a spot on our list of best phone battery life, nor will the Pixel 9 Pro or Pixel 9 Pro XL. But if you consider the lowest-ranking phone on this list, the Motorola Razr Plus (2024) has a battery life of 14 hours and 13 minutes – Google isn’t far from getting there.
As someone who used the Pixel 6 Pro as an everyday phone and was planning on upgrading to the Pixel 9 Pro, I was pretty concerned about the phone’s battery life. After nearly three years, the Pixel 6 Pro’s battery is not great at all and it’s rare that the phone lasts a full day without needing to be charged at some point.
Conclusion
I have to admit, I’m very relieved that the Pixel 9 came out of Tom’s Guide’s labs with good battery life – although I didn’t expect it to last this long. Not that I’m complaining, because battery life has been my biggest gripe with Google’s phone for several years.
This isn’t the only problem Pixel phones have had, but in these cases, the pros of a Google phone outweigh the cons. Frankly, I don’t really care if my phone is a performance marvel, because that’s not actually how I use it. A Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 would be an absolute waste for me, although that’s not the case for everyone – and some people are definitely keen to see Google fall behind due to the Tensor G4’s allegedly throttled performance.
Regardless of what you think of Google’s other Pixel pitfalls, we can all agree that this is a huge step in the right direction. Assuming Google can keep this momentum going and avoid major drops in battery life over the next few years, it means the company can focus more on the other issues and help make the Pixel series as good as it can be.
