If you read through the Pixel phone reviews I’ve written over the years, you might have noticed that I rarely rave about a Google phone’s battery life. My tests typically show either solid battery life (which is to be understood as mediocre) or pretty bad battery life. In not a single review have I called one of Google’s Pixel phones a battery champion.

What’s so bad about that? Most of the reasons for this could be inefficient tensor chips, undersized batteries, or poorly performing modems. In fact, it’s probably a combination of all three. Pixel phones usually give me a little worry when I’m traveling or spending a day without WiFi and no cable to charge if needed.

With the launch of the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL, battery life was undoubtedly one of the areas I really wanted to put to the test. Since I find these designs absolutely incredible and almost everything about these phones ticks the boxes I need to make one of my favorite phones going forward, it was the battery life that could make or break this one.

People who The battery life of the Pixel 9 Pro was phenomenal so far – on both versions of the phone.

TESTING BOTH PIXEL 9 PRO MODELS: Since leaving the Made by Google event a week ago, I’ve been able to test out the Pixel 9 Pro XL for several days before switching to the smaller Pixel 9 Pro. I haven’t held back on usage. If anything, I’ve made an extra effort to push these devices harder than usual to see how those batteries hold up.

To recap, the Pixel 9 Pro has a 4700mAh battery and the Pixel 9 Pro XL has a 5060mAh battery. That gives us a battery in the Pixel 9 Pro XL that is on par with the Pixel 8 Pro, a device whose battery life hasn’t given me too much concern but which I wouldn’t rank at the top of the list of smartphone batteries. And for the Pixel 9 Pro, we don’t have a phone to compare it to. However, 4700mAh is pretty big for a phone of this size, at least in my opinion.

We also have a new Tensor G4 chip, which Google says is the most efficient yet, a new Samsung modem (with really promising results so far), the batteries we just talked about, and new LTPO displays. This combination seems to bring big improvements in efficiency overall.

PIXEL 9 BATTERY RESULTS: For my testing, as mentioned, I started with the Pixel 9 Pro XL. I (unfortunately) didn’t manage to take enough screenshots in the first few days, but at least one shows 3 hours of screen time and 63% charge remaining. That was just the middle of the day, which included 40 minutes of Pokemon Go, some time on the camera, and all the other apps I normally use (Chrome, Instagram, Threads, Google News, Telegram, etc.). On one of the days, I fell asleep before I could take the screenshot. I’m pretty sure I went to bed with 40% battery and 4 hours of screen time. I just hammered away at the Pixel 9 Pro XL in the first few days and it just wouldn’t let up fast enough.

And then a Pixel 9 Pro review unit showed up that I could really get going with. On one of my first charges, I got 3.5 hours of screen time and went to bed with 21%. That’s nothing special, but it got better every day. On Saturday, Pokemon Go had a community day, where my son and I went for a couple hours of walking in the sun while Pokemon Go was running (and only on a data connection). We took both Pixel 9 Pro phones to absolutely destroy their charges. As it turns out, even that situation couldn’t faze the Pixel 9 Pro. The day ended with 5.5 hours of screen time (most of that on LTE or 5G), another 30 minutes of a Stealth Master session from my son, and then the rest of my daily routine. By the evening, I had 10% battery, and that’s just incredible.

That day I followed it up with another 4 hour day of screen time on and 29% battery when I went to bed, and another 4 hour day with 39% before bed yesterday. I think the Pixel 9 Pro’s battery life is only getting better.

PIXEL 9 PRO XL CHARGING SPEED: As for charging, I haven’t fully tested Google’s claim that the Pixel 9 Pro can charge at 27W and the Pixel 9 Pro XL at 37W, as I don’t have the new 45W charger. However, I do have a monster of an Anker charger, and the Pixel 9 Pro XL maxes out at 27.2W. That’s neither super fast nor that slow, but if you really want that much juice, the 45W charger might be worth it, assuming it actually hits those numbers. That charger I have is more than capable, but this phone just doesn’t make it there for some reason.

On a recent charge, this Pixel 9 Pro XL’s battery went from 12% to 51% in 20 minutes at that 27W rate. That’s not bad.

Of course, both have wireless charging, and Google’s charging feature is smart enough to fully charge these devices overnight until you wake up, leaving them 100% charged by morning while preserving your battery life.

So yes, battery life is without a doubt a highlight of the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL. For you heavy users, I think you’ll find two devices that can keep up with your daily life. For small phone lovers (like me), we just found our new best friend.