This week saw Google release the latest Android update for Google Pixel and Nexus devices in the form of the January security patch. As this is an update which is sill in the process of rolling out to devices, some Pixel and Nexus devices will have yet to receive the update. Of those that have received it already, some owners have been reporting issues to do with a drop in the general performance of the smartphone following the update.
Generally speaking, the issues have been primarily noted on Reddit where users explain how after updating there is an increased degree of lag in the general performance. This can be best summed up by a longer time for apps to load, scrolling being slower, and so on. At present, the bulk of the user reports seem to mainly surround the Google Pixels, with owners of both first and second-generation models having encountered the issue. However, it does seem as though this is not a widespread issue due to it seemingly related to how the update is applied.
For example, it would seem that the drop in performance has been linked to the sideloading of the update instead of the update being received and applied in a more organic fashion. It is not quite clear why this is the case, although a number of the users reporting this issue have also explained the update was sideloaded to begin with. Likewise, 9to5Google who first reported on this, are also reporting Google has confirmed the lag issue is linked to sideloading. So those who opt to wait and receive the update naturally should not encounter the issue following installation of the update. For those who have already sideloaded the update (or plan to), the details on this suggest a remedy to the lag issue is fairly easy to fix. Just reboot the phone. For whatever reason, rebooting the phone is apparently fixing the issue and based on the comments noted in the Reddit thread, the reboot may be essentially finalizing the update. So while the phone will reboot after installing anyway, those who then encounter the issue, a second reboot should (according to reports) fix the issue.