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Google Says Pixel Battery-Drain Bug Is Fixed for Some Models but Users Report It Persists

Google says a kernel-level fix for SPI and GNSS suspend aborts was merged for Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 with further patches planned for other models.

Overview

  • Google posted on its public Issue Tracker that it fixed the 'Severe Idle Drain: kepler_spi_irq_handler & gnss_ipc Suspend Aborts' problem and merged the change into the July MPR build for Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 families.
  • The company told users that fixes for Pixel 8a and Pixel 9a are scheduled for a September QPR release, but Google did not list Pixel 7 or most Pixel 8 models in the announced rollouts.
  • Affected users say the bug causes excessive idle wakeups from low-level SPI and GNSS driver issues, which in many reports has cut daily battery life roughly in half.
  • Many users immediately pushed back after Google closed the Issue Tracker entry, posting continued battery-drain reports and saying their phones show no improvement after the July update.
  • Community monitoring and user testing continue while Google stages broader releases and users look for empirical confirmation that the kernel patch stops the idle wakeups and restores normal battery life.