I’ve been using a Pixel 9 Pro for several weeks. In many ways it is a great phone with significant improvements from the Pixel 8 series such as a much better front camera for selfie photos and videos, super bright 3000 nits max screen brightness and 1 year free trial of the Google One AI Premium plan.
Unfortunately for anyone like me who lives somewhere that gets really hot for many months of the year (Sydney, Australia) a Pixel 9 Pro phone may not be the best choice for you.
The Pixel 9 Pro is fine for day to day tasks like taking photos, web browsing, checking emails and general social messaging.
However if you use high performance features like recording lots of short videos then the phone is prone to overheating and turning off features or as it did to me the other day, turning off altogether.
It’s not only recording videos that can trigger this.
Some early buyers report that playing games like Pokemon Go walking around outside or using the Pixel 9 Pro in your car for Android Auto navigation on a hot day can result in the phone turning off, heavily throttling performance or reducing features that are available.
Examples of how the phone reacts to getting hot are a reduction in recorded video quality and auto macro for photos being turned off.
Here’s a summary of Google’s official advice for preventing a new Pixel phone from overheating:
- Keep your phone out of direct sunlight and away from excessive heat. Don’t leave it in hot vehicles or enclosed, poorly-ventilated areas.
- Avoid using resource-intensive apps and features like video calls, camera, media streaming, and navigation for extended periods, especially while charging. This can cause your phone to overheat.
- Reduce your screen brightness to lower the device’s power consumption.
- Use only cases or covers specifically designed for your phone model.
- Prefer Wi-Fi over mobile data when possible, as it’s less taxing on your phone.
- If your phone does overheat and turns off, let it cool down completely before restarting. If the issue persists, contact Pixel support for further assistance.
Android Authority claimed recently to have seen internal Google documents that say:
“Thermals #1 reason for Pixel returns. Stability top driver of negative NPS [net promoter score] sentiment; 28% of mentions is overheating.”
