Pixel 10 receives essential December update: fixing battery drain and touch issues

What you need to know

• Users on Reddit report that a second December update is rolling out for the Pixel 10 series.
• Verizon posted the patch notes, which highlight fixes for a severe battery drain, display unresponsiveness, and issues with cached content.
• Google's first update arrived early in December, but users quickly reported issues with a flickering AOD (always-on display).

Google has started pushing a secondary update this month for its Pixel 10 devices after issues appeared for users.

Redditors were on the ball this week, reporting that the Pixel 10 is receiving another software update (via 9to5Google). The original poster (OP) noticed that a second update hit their Pixel 10 Pro XL this week. The report states that they are on Verizon's cell network. Shortly after posting, the user discovered that Verizon had updated their Pixel 10 software patch notes with this second update.

The security patch is roughly 25MB, per user reports on Reddit, fixing a pair of frustrating issues for users who experienced them.

Verizon states the update brings a fix for a severe battery drain issue plaguing the Pixel 10 series. Devices that were experiencing sharper battery drains than normal should find that rectified in the current patch marked BP4A.251205.006.E1. Another fix is rolling in for "touch unresponsiveness." The changelog adds that this regards "Intermittent touch failures observed specifically on Pixel 10."

The final fix is for cached content, such as offline media or maps, after upgrading from Android 14 to Android 16. Users on Reddit continue to report that they're seeing this update appear on their Pixel 10 Pro XL, as well as the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. There was one report stating that T-Mobile has yet to provide any such update for its Pixel 10 this month.

A harsh winter

While this second December update fixes a display issue, per se, it's not the one we saw reports about earlier. Shortly after Google rolled out its monthly security patch, users quickly noticed that their displays were flickering when the AOD (always-on display) was enabled. This problem seemingly only affected Pixel 10 devices. Reports explained that the flickering would appear when wirelessly charging.

Additionally, users also noticed it when the clock refreshed (during AOD) and when unlocking their device. The flicker was quite brutal, as users stated their phone's display would go completely black before returning a second later.

This second patch doesn't state that Google has solved this issue, so maybe users encountering it still have to shy away from the AOD. That first security update arrived at the top of December, bringing 33 bug fixes in its sleigh. Freezing UI issues, abnormal display problems, and more were reportedly fixed.