The Pixel 9 series of phones proved to be a popular lineup. They’re well-built, powerful, and chock-full of AI. However, there is an issue lying below the surface that has affected several people. What makes this issue worse is the fact that it’s been going on for six months, and Google hasn’t addressed it. Some Pixel 9 units are having severe GPS performance issues.
Several users reported on this issue as early as September last year when Pixel 9 phones started making their way into hands. So, we’re not sure if this issue just didn’t get much traction or if Google is trying to sweep it under the rug. No matter what the scenario, the stories we’re hearing are pretty scary.
The Pixel 9 phones have some severe GPS issues
This issue might have been buried and over with, but a user reached out to Android Headlines about it. The user told us that she had absolutely abysmal GPS performance with her phone. After looking further into the issue, it looks like this is a pretty big problem with the series.
Other users who bought a Pixel 9 phone reported having awful GPS performance as well. Some users actually replaced their phones for a fresh unit only to run into the same issue. So, this is clearly a bug with the Pixel 9 phones specifically. Many of the users upgraded from phones such as the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a. They found that the performance on the Pixel 9 was much worse.
One user said that when they’re standing still, their phone would think that they’re moving back and forth. This could really mess up your distance calculations if you’re keeping track of it. The user said that it could increase distance calculations by 15%. That’s not all, as the user shared a screenshot comparing their Pixel 9’s performance with their Pixel 7’s on a straightforward trail. The Pixel 7’s line (purple) was consistent with the map while the Pixel 9’s (black) line had a ton of unexpected loops and spikes.
Another report shows much the same thing. In this one, they upgraded from a Pixel 6 Pro to a Pixel 9 Pro. Again, we see a comparison between both. Both halves of the picture show a hiking trail with the top one being the Pixel 9 Pro. As you can see, there’s a stark difference between the two phones’ performance.
The Pixel 9 Pro’s graph shows a ton of jumps that resulted in jagged lines and corners whereas the Pixel 6 Pro’s line is much smoother and more accurate. We can see a long straight line in the middle of the Pixel 9 Pro’s graph. This indicates the user cutting straight through the trail.
If you think that’s bad, how about the phone’s performance with a straight line? That’s right, one user reported that the Pixel 9 Pro XL struggled with just mapping out a straight line. As you can see, there are the same sorts of spikes and loops that we saw with the other images.
Last, but not least, the user who reached out to us sent a screen recording showing this happening in real-time.
It’s clear that this is a pretty severe issue. If these phones can’t map a straight line, then Google needs to do something. We’re actually pretty surprised that this issue didn’t gain traction when people were first reporting on it. There weren’t any other controversies happening around the time to distract from it.
Why Google is ignoring this issue
It’s odd that Google hasn’t acknowledged this little hiccup. If we’re seeing GPS performance like this, you’d expect the company to at least say something about it. However, it persisted for six months. Since people rely on their phones quite often for navigation, proper GPS performance is a must.
Google probably didn’t prioritize the issue because phones use their cellular data to communicate with services like Google Maps, Waze, Apple Maps, and others. When a person exits their cell signal’s range, their phone will fall back to GPS. Since the majority of people live and travel within cell range, this issue probably just didn’t get the attention it deserves.
However, there could be a much more worrisome reason. At this point, we don’t know if this is a hardware or software issue. Obviously, if it’s a software issue, then there could be a fix in sight. However, what if this is a hardware issue? That would make things much more complicated. Google could easily announce and own up to a software bug; it could easily be patched.
But, we’re sure that the company wouldn’t want to admit that there’s a physical defect in its newest phones that can not be fixed. Right now, Google is focused on the Pixel 9a and the Pixel 10. We don’t think that it’s going to go in and patch up the Pixel 9’s issue. So, there’s always the chance that it wants to turn a blind eye to this problem and bury it. However, that’s only speculation; we’ll need to wait for confirmation for that.
Also, if Google was trying to bury a hardware defect, then it would have likely deleted the support page complaints. In any case, this is a pretty big issue, and we hope that Google comes out and tells us what’s going on.
2025-03-14 15:07:50