Google has now made it clear that the Pixel is limited to 15W of charging and that only the Pixel XL can go for 18W using the stock USB-PD charger.
How The Charging Speeds Were Found Out
A recognized tester in the Android community, Nathan K. discovered this discrepancy by way of extensive tests. After uncovering it, he emphasizes that the restriction will "likely have no functional impact on the use of the Sailfish."
"Practically speaking, this will have ABSOLUTELY NO EFFECT on your daily use. The charger and phone are safe. This decision was intentional and apparently made based on thermal concerns," he says.
Google Updates The Pixel Website
As this development came to light, Android Police got in touch with Google to clarify things, and apparently, not mentioning that the Pixel could charge only at 15W was a marketing blunder.
On the Pixel and Pixel XL's technical specifications page, it now says that the USB Type-C 18W adapter supports 15W to 18W charging. Previously, it only said 18W.
Interestingly enough, David Ruddock of Android Police speculates that the team behind Pixel may have added in the charging cap in the later part of the development or before the firmware was finalized, and the people in charge of marketing just didn't get the word about it on time.
The Bottom Line
To make sure everything's clear, only the Pixel XL can do 18W, as the Pixel is restricted at 15W. However, that doesn't mean the latter won't deliver the experience that Google promised, not to mention that a 3W difference isn't really much of a big deal.
What's more, the Pixel XL has a significantly larger 3,450 mAh battery compared with the 5-inch model's 2,770 mAh cell. To put two and two together, it's still going to take a little longer to charge the bigger Phone by Google.
Still, the Mountain View company did sort of fail to disclose all the specifications of the Pixel before rolling it out, but it's highly unlikely that it deliberately kept the 15W-charging limitation to itself.
Before wrapping things up, it's also worth mentioning that the Pixel XL was recently subjected to a charging speed test that puts it against the iPhone 7 Plus and the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge.
With everything said and done, what do you think of the Pixel's slower charging speed? Feel free to hit us up in the comments section below, especially if it changes your opinion toward the Google smartphone.
At any rate, if you want only the features of the Pixel and not the phone itself, you can always install some features of it on your Android device.
