Google recommends warranty replacements for those affected

Mar 9, 2017 00:23 GMT  ·  By

It's pretty clear by now that either HTC hasn't done a good job at manufacturing the Pixel/Pixel XL or Google hasn't designed them well enough. Both smartphones are plagued by numerous issues, some of them requiring warranty replacements since they can't be fixed via software updates.

The latest issue the Pixel and Pixel XL owners are complaining about is related to the three microphones inside. Apparently, many users experience complete failure of one or more of their phone's mics, which sometime is causing a total audio input block, while other times are working with the camera app during recording video.

It looks like the most common problem is “a hairline crack in the solder connection on the audio codec. This will affect all three mics and may result in other issues with audio processing. This problem tends to be transient because of the nature of the crack. Based on temperature changes or the way you hold the phone, the connection may be temporarily restored and the problems may go away.”

Unfortunately, the fact that your mics might start working again makes the issue even more frustrating, since the problem randomly comes back after a while. Google claims that the issues could be triggered by dropping the phone, which sometimes may not cause any visible external damage, but this is just a guess.

Google Pixel XL
Google Pixel XL

Google has already acknowledged the issue and confirmed that it can't be fixed through software updates. The search giant announced last month that it would take additional steps to qualify refurbished phones to make sure they aren't affected by the same issue.

Also, Google announced that the phones manufactured since January should not manifest this issue. According to Google, less than 1 percent of the devices manufactured before then should be affected by mic problems.

Customers who own Pixel smartphones affected by the mic issues should ask for a replacement from the retailer the unit was purchased from.

If you don't want to return it to the same retailer, you can send the phone to Google and the company should ship you a replacement unit, but this will take a couple of weeks.

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Google Pixel XL
Google Pixel XL
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