The Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are expected to arrive later this fall, and despite being months away from their release date, we’re already learning a lot about them. Most recently, a new report has shed some light on various specs for the two phones — and it looks promising.
Over the weekend, Android Authority shared a few exclusive details about the Pixel 8 family, citing a “source inside Google” from which they came from. There’s plenty to dig through here, but the most interesting has to do with the reported battery life and charging upgrades.
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Upgrades to battery life and charging
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According to Android Authority, the Pixel 8 will feature a 4,485mAh battery — a 215mAh increase compared to the 4,270mAh battery inside of the Google Pixel 7. Similarly, the Pixel 8 Pro is reported to get a 4,950mAh battery as an upgrade to the Pixel 7 Pro‘s 4,926mAh cell — a much more modest 24mAh increase.
Although the Pixel 8 Pro’s battery increase is hard to get too excited about, it is nice to see Google making meaningful upgrades to the base Pixel 8. And assuming the rumored Tensor G3 chip also has better power consumption than Tensor G2, both phones should benefit from increased battery life in that regard. The Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro have never been battery champs, so larger batteries of any size will be greatly appreciated.
Additionally, it looks like Google’s also giving us slightly faster charging speeds. Coming from the modest 20W and 23W wired charging speeds of the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, respectively, the Pixel 8 is expected to offer 24W charging while the Pixel 8 Pro gets 27W speeds.
Is an increase of 4W for both phones a huge change? Not really. Google still has lots of room to improve here, especially when the Galaxy S23 Ultra offers up to 45W and the OnePlus 11 charges at 80W. But, similar to the battery changes, any improvements to the charging situation are welcome to see. The Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are among the slowest-charging smartphones for their respective prices, so I’m happy to see upgrades here — even if they aren’t as meaningful as I would have hoped.
In addition to the battery and charging upgrades, the Android Authority report goes on to mention a few other Pixel 8 tidbits. The publication claims that both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will have Wi-Fi 7 support. Google added a UWB (ultra-wideband) chip to the Pixel 7 Pro last year, and it’s coming to the Pixel 8 Pro once again — but not to the regular Pixel 8.
Finally, the report indicates that the Pixel 8 series will be available in a few countries that the Pixel 7 was never offered in — including Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and Portugal.
There’s still plenty we don’t know about the Pixel 8 series, but the battery and charging upgrades have me a lot more interested than whatever Google’s doing with the Pixel 8 Pro’s bizarre temperature sensor. Battery life and slow charging were two of the biggest areas Google dropped the ball last year, and while the specifics of the upgrades aren’t everything I was hoping for, it’s good to see Google’s listening — even if just a little bit.
Whatever you do, don’t buy the Google Pixel 7a right now
Google I/O 2024 is just a month away. We expect Android 15 to be shown off, and some hardware, too. In previous years, Google has used I/O to show off the latest for its Pixel A-series device. This year should give us the Google Pixel 8a, and we might even get a peek at what’s coming with the next-generation Pixel Fold 2.
The Google Pixel 7a launched last May, so it’s almost a year old now. At the time, while the 7a was mostly solid, the higher price made it a bit of an awkward recommendation, considering its specs and close positioning to the higher-end Pixel 7.
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