After all the Pixel battery issues, I don’t think I can keep recommending Google’s 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.