I love Pixel smartphones, but they’ve encountered an issue or two over the years. However, the latest one might be the worst.
A Pixel 6a owner was using a non-OEM charger and received an overheating alert at around 4 AM, waking her up. After she woke up, she heard popping sounds and smelled burning. She rushed to the phone, and it was already too late as the device melted into her clothes. The display was separated from the body, and all the internal components had been destroyed, according to Android Authority.
The Pixel 6a owner contacted Fi support, as she purchased the device through Google Fi in 2023. Fi support replied, eventually, asking her to return her device so they could take it to the lab for analysis and offered her a Pixel 8a in return.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard Pixel devices overheating and catching fire. Back in the day, the Pixel 4a was recalled in Australia for overheating. Google launched an extended repair program the Pixel 5a in the U.S. over display and power issues. There seems to be nothing official on the 6a from Google but there are other posts about the unit catching fire. The company also recently launched an extended repair program for the 7a which is only a few years old, and likely uses very similar components to the 6a.
Because I switch devices often, I’m not the best to ask about this, but MobileSyrup’s Editor-in-Chief consistently uses Pixel devices, and this has never happened to him. So I wouldn’t be too worried, but there does seem to be some sort of reliability issues that we can only hope Google has been ironing out since the Pixel 7 series at least.
Source: Android Authority
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