Google says Pixel users ‘expect’ 36 hours of battery in planning Tensor G6

In developing the Tensor G6 for the Pixel 11 series, Google talks about problems users have had in past generations, with battery life unsurprisingly playing a role.

In Tensor G6 design/planning documents seen by Android Authority, Google talks about over 86% of Pixel 6/7 users not making it through the day (“MITTD”), while “Battery life is always at the top of conjoint studies.” Nothing about that — along with how “Good battery life attracts user & drives loyalty with higher satisfaction” — is particularly surprising.

Of note is a line about how “Users expect 36 hrs of battery life.” In context, that’s presumably what Google found after surveying users. 

It’s unclear if that expectation is ultimately what Google wants to achieve with Tensor G6 and Pixel down the road, or whether it’s just something they’re keeping in mind. As of the Pixel 9 series, Google touts “24+ hour battery life” on the specs sheet, while the Pixel 6 Pro-8 Pro had “Beyond 24-hour battery life.” What has changed over the years is Extreme Battery Saver life going from up to 48-hours on the 6 Pro to 72 hours on the 7/8 Pro and now up to 100 hours this year. 

36 hours of battery life might let a user go about their day if they forget to charge their phone overnight. Most people at this point are trained to plug in at the end of the day, but accidents do happen. 

The rest of the document talks about needing to get the cost of the chip down as “Tensor based Pixel programs have not met our financial targets.” Specifically, there is a target of “~$65 to make this business viable.” 

To achieve that, the aim is to make Tensor G6 physically smaller than the G5 (121 mm² to 105 mm²), and removing various components. For example, the GPU will drop ray tracing support after introducing it a generation earlier. Other examples include removing cores and reducing caches across the chip. Of course, none of this is finalized yet. 

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