The much-awaited Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro devices finally got their release at the tail end of October to overwhelming support. The devices have been flying off the shelves to the extent that Google can not keep up with the demand, and has resorted to creating waitlists for those who had not pre-ordered.
The Pixel 6’s relatively affordable price and Google’s custom chipset are some of the attractive offerings found in Google’s first true flagship smartphone. However, the launch has not been truly hassle-free with reports in several forums, including Reddit, that the Pixel 6 Pro is suffering from some weird flickering problems.
The flickering problem pops up when the power button is pressed while the Pixel 6 Pro is turned off. To further complicate matters, the issue is not isolated to a small number of users, as AndroidPolice report that one of their review units also exhibits the same problem.
Whether the issue is only affecting the Pixel 6 Pro or the Pixel 6 as well, can not be substantiated, as most users in enthusiast phone subreddits are highly likely to have purchased the higher-end model.
The reports have no mention of whether the flickering affects any other functionality of the phones for now. However, it is a possibility that there are some long-term effects down the line that the users have not run into yet.
This is not the first time something has gone wrong during the release phase of a new Pixel device. The Pixel 5, for instance, had display issues where gaps existed between the phone’s display and its frame. The Pixel 4, on the other hand, discharged its battery quickly while shutting down randomly while the Pixel 3 could brick itself by getting stuck in the EDL mode.
In addition to the flickering issue, a smaller group of users is reporting a green screen tint on both the Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro. The tint appears while the device is locked and asking for a pattern lock. Redditors claim the green tint covers the whole screen, but its severity across the screen is not uniform. Still, the problem can not be blamed on either the hardware or the software with any certainty. However, various theories exist on the Pixel phone subreddit as to what might be the issue.
The most upvoted theory is that the problem is power-related because of the Pixel 6’s fast boot-up that takes less than 15 seconds. When the power button is tapped in the process of fast booting, the OS does not gracefully deal with the interruption and as a result, flickers. The green tint, on the other hand, might be a problem of a bad batch of displays. All this, however, is still speculation as Google has not responded to any of the issues.
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