I don’t think I can keep recommending Google’s Pixel phones

I love a good Pixel. I’ve owned several, defended them in heated group chats, and even converted a few friends to the cause. But lately? I’m hesitating — hard. The elephant in the room, if you haven’t noticed, is batteries. Not in the “oh, it doesn’t last a full day” sense — we’re talking swelling, melting, and potentially exploding. The kind of hardware horror that once tanked a Samsung generation is now infesting Google’s own backyard.

If you’ve missed the story, earlier this year, some Pixel 4a owners discovered their battery life went from fine to rubbish over the course of a single update. Google hastily rolled out the Pixel 4a Battery Performance Program to swap out problematic cells, but kept unnervingly quiet about exactly why all this was suddenly happening. Eventually, a local recall revealed the truth: the batteries could overheat and potentially cause burns or injuries. The issue is bad enough, but the lack of forthcoming explanation made it worse.

Now, just as that fire gets put out, here comes the Pixel 6a. Google appears poised to once again force an update to prevent some models from overheating. We’ve even seen photos of a melted Pixel 6a to hammer home that this isn’t just a minor software patch — it’s a very real issue. Even if only a small number of handsets are potentially at risk, exploding batteries are not a joke — they’re a hazard to you and your home.

If that wasn’t enough cause for concern, in April, Google acknowledged that some Pixel 7a units are impacted by “unexpected” battery swelling. Again, the solution is to offer replacement batteries or financial compensation and move on. That’s all well and good, but only a small consolation to users who endured the inconvenience, not to mention danger, of a swollen battery, and yet another reason for the rest of us to think twice about picking up a Pixel.

Suppose it were just one model — a fluke, perhaps. Two? Concerning. But three Pixel smartphones with battery issues, all identified within a few months of each other? That’s a trend, and not the good kind.

The common denominator is that these issues affect Google’s affordable Pixel A models — the very models I used to confidently recommend to friends and family for their balance of cost, convenience, and supposed longevity. But what good are years of updates when the batteries can’t last? I don’t know if Google is sourcing bargain-bin batteries to save costs, but this will undoubtedly cost the company considerable time and money to put right, and even worse, its reputation as well.

OK, but surely Google’s quality control has improved over the years? Well, the Pixel 9a stumbled out of the blocks a few weeks late due to a ‘component quality issue,’ as Google called it. Once again, it didn’t take long for speculation to grow that overheating was once again at play, possibly the camera this time, maybe the processor… or yes, the battery. We can only hope it wasn’t the battery — but whatever it was, it’s yet another poorly explained Pixel problem.

My inner fan wants to cut Google some slack and hopes the battery fiasco won’t crop up with the latest models. I still love using Pixel phones; the software package remains one of the best in the business, the cameras are brilliant for the money, and Google’s AI smarts give Pixels an edge over the competition at all their price points. It’s for these reasons that Pixels, and particularly the affordable A series, have been my go-to picks for friends and family for the past few years. Increasingly robust update commitments had only strengthened their case, but now that effort looks seriously undermined.

There’s still value in the Pixel series, of course. A few bad apples don’t spoil the bunch: there’s no evidence that the broader range is affected, and Google has put options in place for those who are. Maybe this is the last we’ll hear of it, maybe the Pixel 8a and 9a will be fine.

But that’s a lot of maybes, and when people ask me what phone to buy, they’re trusting me not just with picking the right phone to do what they need — they’re also trusting me with peace of mind. That trust matters. Google’s losing mine, and I can’t pass the risk on to someone else.

I’ve always recommended Pixels in good faith. Right now, I just can’t do that anymore.