I’ve had my Huawei Nexus 6P for about two years now. The combination of a great camera, an excellent screen, good performance and decent battery life has made this my best smartphone ever.
However, a couple of months ago something happened as the battery capacity appeared to have collapsed dramatically. Sometimes the phone would shut down only 5 hours after I had disconnected it from the AC charger when I left home, starting off supposedly fully charged! I had to always carry a USB battery and cable with me to not risk losing the use of my phone in the middle of the day.
Attempts to recalibrate the capacity indicator helped only insofar as the phone would shut down at 14% charge instead of say 55% charge, so there was slightly more warning, but the number of hours was still too short. This actually seems to be a common problem with the Nexus 6P, which otherwise is still a great phone.
It’s not uncommon for Li-ion batteries to significantly lose capacity after about about three years, but if it happens after less than two years as in my case, that’s not very good. Fortunately, replacement batteries are available and any competent phone repair shop will be happy to do the necessary surgery to replace a battery that is on its way out. Unfortunately the days when you could simply pop open the phone case without any tools and swap the battery yourself are long gone. This is a trend started by Apple and almost every other phone maker has since followed suit. I think it’s meant to get people to buy a new phone sooner, which is good for Apple and its competitors, but bad for consumers and for the planet.
There are Youtube videos that will show you how you how to open the Nexus 6P case and disassemble the phone to swap the battery. This involves the use of a hairdryer or heat gun to soften the glue that holds it all together as well as a plastic card and a small screw driver. As I did not feel adventurous enough to attempt this myself, I contacted several phone repair shops here in Tokyo. Repair King Japan replied. Though they they didn’t have the Nexus 6P battery in stock they were happy to order one for me. Once they got it, I dropped the phone off and two hours later I could have it back with a new battery. So far it’s looking good: It’s been 40 hours since the last full charge (with battery saver mode inactive) and it’s still showing 64% with about 3 days of power left 🙂
UPDATE: At 72 hours, it still had 23% charge left. At that point I connected it to a charger.
Hopefully with the new battery my Nexus 6P will be a great phone again for a few more years!
40 hours since charging and 3 days of power left?! Where can I order this battery? My 6P doesn’t last 5 hours on a charge.
I don’t know exactly what model the shop installed as a replacement part, but just about any model that’s compatible (size-wise and capacity-wise) will give you better results than what you’re getting now. There are several models available on Amazon, but the surgery needed to install one of those is not for people inexperienced in phone or laptop repair, which is why I had a shop do it.
The shop where I had the upgrade done said they get a fair number of Nexus 6P customers asking for battery replacements. When I googled the subject I came across a lot of threads with people complaining how much battery life had shortened for them. This leads me to believe there is a quality issue with the original battery used in the device. Two years is too short to lose that much capacity from a Li-ion battery.
No doubt there’s a problem with the 6P, and it seems like nobody has been able to source an oem replacement. I’ll keep searching the forums for a good option
A search for “nexus 6p battery replacement” on Amazon comes up with a couple of results have reasonable looking ratings from confirmed buyers.
Hi Joe,
How your battery works after some time? Is the battery life still good?
Thank you for answer, Tom
Hello Tom,
The battery still works great. I have not had any issues.
Hi Joe,
Wondering if you could help! I actually went to Repair King’s office in Ikebukuro today in Tokyo about my Nexus 6P but I was sadly told that they were unable to do anything about my phone, even though I already have the battery for them to replace it with. Did you go to the main office in Shibuya? I really want to get my phone sorted out asap because I’m having the same issues as you!
Finding it increasingly difficult with the increasing amount of iPhone stores here! Cheers if you could help
Hello Chloe,
Yes, I went to the main office in Shibuya though I was initially told by mistake that the battery ordered for me was in stock at the Ikebukuro branch. So I’m a little surprised the Ikebukuro branch would tell you they can’t do the work.
Japan is one of the few countries where the iPhone outsells Android phones, making it more difficult to get parts and service for them unless you can go through the cellphone companies.
Hi Joe,
Most replacement batteries have the problem of shutting down early (like tripping the main power) when they use heavy apps like the camera or some games.
For example, the phone would be at 60% and when the camera’s HDR is in use, the phone would just switch off and would not restart again. The only way to get it started is to connect it to the power supply and hit the power button. When the phone switches on, it’s back to 60%.
Any idea if your phone has behaved similarly from time to time? Of course it depends on how you use your phone. You may not be a power user so you may not have experienced this problem, but many do.
I love my 6P and I’ve had it for 2 and a half years now, but the battery lasts me about 5 hours. I want to change it, but I haven’t found a trustworthy replacement yet.
Is it possible for you to find out the exact battery they replaced yours with? 40 hours without charging and having 64% left is INSANE! I want that too haha
Please advice. Thanks! 🙂
Faraaz,
Unfortunately I can’t tell you the exact model of the battery used, as this would involve disassembling the phone, which I am not capable of (which is why I had the shop doing it).
I have not had any issue with the replacement battery not being able to cover a power surge. It’s true that I rarely use HDR for pictures because I don’t use it with a tripod and HDR requires the camera to be very steady during the multiple exposures.
Normally, Li-ion batteries will handle a charge current of 1C (e.g. if your battery capacity is 3000 mAh, 1C is a current of 3000 mA) and a discharge current even of 3C should be no problem.
If u could contact the shop that did the work and ask them what battery they used, you would be doing a great service to the multiple of Nexus 6p owners that are having a similar problem . 😉
But regardless, thank you for your post. I like my Nexus and was worried that I might have to get a new phone.
Hi have you found the model of this battery?