TL;DR
- Google has confirmed the existence of the Pixel 8a.
- The phone will carry new battery information stats that were previously spotted on existing Pixel phones but later removed after the March feature drop.
Google has unintentionally confirmed the existence of the Pixel 8a while addressing a Pixel feature that mysteriously disappeared after the March Pixel feature drop.
With the Android 14 QPR 1 update, Google introduced new battery stats in the battery information section, showing the charging cycle counts and manufacturing date of the battery. These details were meant to help users estimate the battery health of their phones. However, the information was randomly removed from Pixels after the recent March update.
Addressing the problem in its issue tracker, Google says that this behavior is intentional and that the now missing battery stats were never supposed to show up on existing devices.
In saying so, the company also confirmed that the new battery stats information is supposed to be displayed on all devices Pixel 8a and above.
“We only enable this page on Pixel 8a and beyond, so this is WAI(Working as Intended),” Google wrote on its issue tracker page.
This makes it clear that the cycle count and battery manufacturing info will be coming to the Pixel 8a and all future Pixel phones. It’s still unclear if the feature will also make it to more recent Google phones like the Pixel 8 and Pixel 7 series.
Google is expected to launch the Pixel 8a in the coming months. It might be unveiled at Google I/O in May.
