Eine kleine Anpassung von Google hat die wahre Natur des Schnellladens für Mobiltelefone enthüllt.

To earn money from users, mobile phone manufacturers are finding more and more tricks. On August 20th local time, the annual event "Made by Google 2025" kicked off. As usual, the new flagship Pixel 10 series was also introduced. The technological fusion of hardware and Artificial Intelligence (AI) was the highlight of this year's Google hardware press conference.

Aside from the highly regarded AI features, there is still an interesting detail that should be noted. Google has announced that the "Battery Health Assistant" function of the Pixel 10 series will be forcibly activated, and users cannot manually disable it. According to reports, after 200 charging cycles of the phone, this function will gradually reduce the maximum battery voltage until the recommended time for battery replacement after 1000 charging cycles.

In short, the effect of the "Battery Health Assistant" function is to slow down the aging of the battery. However, the price for this is that the battery life and fast - charging ability of the phone will synchronously decline during the use of the Pixel 10 series. Google's claim that the phone can be charged to 55% in about 30 minutes does not hold true for the entire usage period of this series.

Here, the question arises: The "Battery Health Assistant" function makes the battery more durable, but it also causes negative feedback in the user experience. So why does Google do this?

The AI functions such as Magic Cue (Magic Hints) and Camera Coach (Camera - Coach) of the Pixel 10 series are based on Edge AI. In particular, the "Pro Res Zoom" function introduced in the Pixel 10 Pro/Pro XL models relies on an Edge large - model to intelligently improve images and supplement details. Thus, with the unchanged hardware design, a maximum zooming ability of up to 100 - fold resolution can be achieved.

Although the comprehensive integration of Gemini AI into the Pixel 10 series makes the "phone AI" more useful, the price for relying on Edge AI is the concerning battery life. The invocation of the Tensor G5 for AI calculations not only brings higher heat generation but also a terrible energy consumption problem. Moreover, the battery of Pixel smartphones has always been a weak point.

Take the new EPREL energy - efficiency label certification for electronic devices, which officially came into force in the EU this year, as an example. It requires that all smartphones available in the EU still maintain 80% of their battery health after 800 charging cycles. However, the Pixel 10 series can only guarantee that the battery health will be at least 80% after 1000 charging cycles. In the same context, the Samsung Galaxy S25 series can reach up to 2000 charging cycles, and models from Chinese manufacturers such as OPPO can also reach 1600 charging cycles.

A battery cycle refers to the process in which the battery is fully charged and discharged. For example, if the phone is discharged from 100% to 0% and then charged back to 100%, this corresponds to one cycle. In practical use, the calculation of battery cycles is more flexible. If you consume 50% of the battery capacity today and charge the phone, and consume another 50% tomorrow, the cumulative discharge of 100% will also be counted as one cycle.

Given that smartphones have become a "new organ" for modern people today and people constantly hold their phones in their hands, we assume that the user performs two complete charging and discharging cycles per day. Then the battery of the Galaxy S25 series can last for 33 months before the capacity drops to 80%. However, for the Pixel 10 series, the user can notice a significant decline in battery life after only 16 months.

What's even worse is that due to the incidents with the iPhone, Google cannot secretly try to "protect" the phone's battery.

In 2017, a Reddit user claimed that the performance of his iPhone 6S Plus suddenly improved after he replaced the battery himself. As more and more iPhone 6/6S users noticed the same phenomenon, Apple had to admit that "the performance of some older iPhone models was restricted. Limiting the peak performance of the processor can reduce energy consumption and thus avoid the automatic shutdown of the device due to an empty battery."

Suddenly, the conspiracy theory widely spread in the Apple fan community - "Every year, shortly before the autumn new - product presentation, Apple CEO Tim Cook presses a magic button on his desk, and all old models immediately become slower and slower" - seemed to come true. This was the famous iPhone "Batterygate" incident. Finally, Apple paid 500 million US dollars in compensation for their planned product obsolescence.

Therefore, it is impossible to secretly reduce the performance of the user system to mitigate the shortening of battery life. Google's approach is an admission that the battery life and fast - charging ability of the Pixel 10 series decline from the beginning. This is an open admission of "planned product obsolescence". Moreover, Google prohibits users from disabling the "Battery Health Assistant" function. This also implies that third - party batteries probably won't work, as they probably have no way to reset the battery cycle count in the system.

In fact, by forcibly activating the "Battery Health Assistant" function to hide the poorer battery quality of the Pixel 10 series compared to its competitors, Google has accidentally uncovered a hidden rule in the mobile phone industry. When manufacturers claim that their batteries support 1600 cycles, they often only state that the battery will still retain 80% of its capacity after reaching the cycle number. However, they don't mention that the decrease in battery capacity reduces the activity of electrode materials, which in turn increases the internal resistance and makes it impossible for fast - charging agreements (such as PD/QC) to maintain peak performance.

Mobile phone manufacturers make a big deal out of advertising fast - charging performance. Even statements like "An equivalent 4600 - mAh battery can be charged in 10 minutes" have made users fear that high - power charging could damage the phone. Google's approach indirectly reveals the truth behind mobile phone fast - charging technology. The so - called 90 - W, 120 - W, 150 - W, and 240 - W fast - charging functions actually have a "validity period", and the more frequently the phone is used, the more difficult it is to maintain fast - charging efficiency.

Yes, not only is the battery of a phone a consumable part, but also the fast - charging function.

This article is from the WeChat account "Three - Easy Life" (ID: IT - 3eLife). Author: Three - Easy Jun. Published by 36Kr with permission.