Look, the existence of a Pixel 8a is no secret and we firmly expect Google to release it at some point this year. The likelihood of it arriving around May is pretty high too, because Google has released several new A-series phones around that time in the past, including the most recent Pixel 7a.
Over the weekend, folks spotted a Google confirmation of the Pixel 8a when acknowledging that a new battery feature will (again) officially arrive with the Pixel 8a and onward.
On Google’s IssueTracker, a thread was created back in December with the release of the second Android 14 QPR2 beta because it removed the battery info page that we had received when QPR1 released. We’re talking about the new battery page that showed how many battery cycles your phone had gone through and when it was manufactured.
In response to complaints about this missing page, a Googler said on March 4 that this page was removed on purpose because they plan to “only enable this page on Pixel 8a and beyond.” Annoyingness of the feature removal aside, this is the confirmation we got of the Pixel 8a. So in other words, when the Pixel 8a shows up, Google plans to give us back the battery info page with cycle count and manufacture date.
Again, the Pixel 8a is not a surprise device. We saw a hardware reveal in September of last year, renders in October, a retail box in January, and a bunch of info from retail listings just last week. It’s coming and Google has acknowledged it.
// 9to5Google