Google brought Pixel back from the brink, and now it’s slipping again

I used to have reasons to grill Google every other day. There was a three-year stretch when the company couldn’t get out of its own way.

Google lacked a coherent Pixel strategy. The phones changed way too much, and the software experience was a disaster.

My Pixel 6 was awful at launch, and it took Google months to fix it. The first couple of Tensor chipsets were rough, too.

Things were looking bleak.

Then the Pixel 8 arrived, and things improved. The company made strides with Tensor, improving thermals and performance.

I think Material 3 Expressive design is a winner. And more importantly, the company’s software has become reliable over the last three years.

Which makes the last few updates so alarming. The new Pixel features are great, but Google needs to understand what brought Pixels back from the brink.

Google updates have been rocky in 2026

I don’t care about features if my battery drains

There were rumblings about the January Pixel updates causing battery drain on devices.

I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time, but the March update seemed particularly disruptive for some users. There’s always background noise on Reddit whenever there’s an update, filled with users claiming all kinds of problems.

However, the March update goes a bit further than that, and you can tell more users were affected.

My Pixel 10 Pro Fold and Pixel 10 Pro XL haven’t experienced issues, but as we know from previous Google update problems, just because your device isn’t affected doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

There have been numerous complaints about battery life, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and always-on display issues after this year’s updates.

Google’s April patch seems to have calmed things down a little, but I’d hate to see Google get back into a pattern of breaking things with updates, only to have to scramble to fix them.

It wasn’t that long ago that Pixels were painful to use

Consumer confidence used to be low

It’s easy to forget that we aren’t far removed from Google having some serious Pixel problems.

Consumer confidence used to be low, and the Pixel 6 and 7 eras weren’t a good time for fans of Google’s hardware.

It takes a long time to reclaim lost goodwill, and I still get plenty of backlash whenever I defend the company in an article.

Whenever someone is really giving me an argument about why Tensors are better at overheating, I almost always find out they were a disgruntled Pixel 6 or 7 user. I get it, and I agree with you.

The first two Tensor generations were awful, constantly overheating and suffering from battery life issues as a result.

The modems in those phones weren’t the best, and nothing frustrated me more than my Pixel 6’s fingerprint sensor working only 50% of the time.

I’ve written a few times about how it’s one of the only phones I ever considered throwing out of a window, and I meant it.

Whether you’re willing to admit it or not, that has mostly changed over the last three years. Google has listened to buyers’ complaints, and we’ve seen meaningful improvements to the phones.

The sales numbers will back me up, and Pixel hardware is in its best place in years.

Android 17 and the Pixel 11 are an opportunity

Keep the ship steady another year

I was excited when I heard about the Pixel Glow rumors in Android 17. It’s not confirmed for the Pixel 11, but it would solve a couple of problems for Google.

The company could innovate a bit with its design, without needing a complete departure from what’s made Pixels more successful over the last couple of years.

It’s also just cool to have something back that resembles a notification LED, and if you were born in a certain era, you’re hardwired to enjoy RGB lighting.

That’s fantastic, but Google still needs to focus on the Android 17 experience. If the company makes a change, it has to work. Users need to be able to update their phones with excitement, not holding their breath, wondering what might break.

Android 17 and the Pixel 11 are a fantastic opportunity to release another year of solid hardware and software.

The company has built up much of the confidence it’s lost, but it only takes enough people forced to live without Wi-Fi to erode it again.

It doesn’t take much to get cold sweats again

Google has done well, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still mess up.

I’m willing to forgive Tensor chipsets that don’t benchmark as well as other flagship SoCs, and I can live with camera hardware that feels a couple of years behind.

However, I won’t stand for software that doesn’t work, and I’m not alone in that.

Google is on the right track, but it’ll take hard work and focus to keep it there.